Robert Williamson Brokaw
iOVERNOK OF VERMONT. 185;; -/i. iSGO I
VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
A HISTORY
OF THE PART TAKEN BY THE
VERMONT SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
IN THE
WAR FOR THE UNION,
1861-5.
»o<>'/e'
By G GA BENEDICT.
A
VOLUME 1.
BURLINGTON, VT. :
THE FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION.
1886.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886,
By G. G. BENEDICT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
£
STATE OF VERMONT.
NO. 146.— 1878.— JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR A STATE
HISTORIAN FOR A SPECIAL PURPOSE.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives : — That the Gov-
ernor is hereby authorized and instructed to appoint a suitable person as
State Historian, whose duty shall be, in a reasonable time, to collect and
compile, ready for publication, a History of the part taken by the Vermont
soldiers and sailors in the War of the Rebellion : Provided, such persons
as shall, upon application of said historian, furnish him with items of
history, memoranda or dates, shall do so free of charge.
PEEFACE.
The State of Vermont delayed too long to make provision
for a history of the part taken by her troops in the great civil
war. During the years thus lost, the grave closed over many
who helped to make the history and who could have furnished
valuable information to the historian. When, at last, the
legislature acted on the subject, the labor of preparing the
history was committed to one whose other exacting duties
might well have excused him from this task. The work of
preparation was then suspended for two years in consequence
of a defect in the legislation upon the subject. It has been
further delayed by the unfortunate provision forbidding any
outlay from the State treasury for information and historical
materials, and by prolonged delays (and some absolute fail-
ures) to contribute indispensable information, on the part of
many of those best qualified to furnish facts and describe
events. As a class, it must be said, the Yermont soldiers
have not been eager to recite their deeds. This fact was
noticeable during the war, especially so far as the members of
the First Brigade were concerned ; and their reluctance to
tell their own story seems not to have lessened much as
time has gone on. Some, however, have rendered important
aid to the historian. My acknowledgments are especially
due to Colonel William C. Holbrook of the Seventh regi-
ment, Captain George N. Carpenter and Herbert E. Hill
of the Eighth, Captain Charles F. Branch of the Ninth,
Lieut. Colonel Aldace F. Walker of the Eleventh ; Captain
H. K. Ide of the First Vermont cavalry and Lieut. Colonel
W. Y. W. Kipley of the First U. S. Sharpshooters, for their
YI
PREFACE.
laborious and valuable contributions. Others have aided in
other ways or in less degree. The regimental history of the
Tenth Yermont by Chaplain Haynes and Walker's spirited
history of the Vermont brigade in the Shenandoah Valley
have been freely drawn on. Adjutant General Peter T.
Washburn's War Keports have of course been a mine of in-
dispensable facts and statistics. To Colonel Eobert N. Scott,.
TJ. S. A., in charge of the exhaustive compilation of the
Official Eecords of the civil war ; to Major Merritt Barber,
Assistant Adjutant General, U. S. A., and to Adjutant General
T. S. Peck of Vermont, my thanks are due for valuable assist-
ance and numerous official courtesies.
The materials thus obtained have been supplemented by
various special contributions, relating to particular battles or
events ; by personal recollections ; diaries of soldiers in the
field ; army letters to friends ; and war correspondence in
the newspapers. No available source of information has
been intentionally neglected, and to the knowledge thus
obtained I have added considerable study of the official
reports and records of both the Union and Confederate
armies, and of the works of historians on both sides.
The task assigned to me, was not to make an entertain-
ing description of war scenes and army life ; but to record
facts. The space occupied by the records of the service of
twenty-four different organizations of infantry, cavalry, artil-
lery and sharpshooters, comprising over thirty thousand men,
has largely forbidden extended descriptions, and compelled
the omission of many interesting personal incidents. But it
will be found, I trust, that the essential facts have been given.
I have endeavored, throughout, to sift fact from fancy, and
from the numerous and inevitable contradictions in the
recollections and testimony of even honest witnesses, to
separate the important from the trivial ; and to set down
the noble record of the Vermont troops in such connection
with the general history of the campaigns in which they were
PREFACE. VII
engaged, as to show what they accomplished and the relation
of their service to that of the larger organizations to which
they belonged. Few will understand the amount of labor
expended in the work ; but I may be permitted to express
the hope that many will recognize the controlling desire
of the historian to do justice to all, within the limits im-
posed, and to be everywhere truthful and impartial.
G. G. B.
BURLINGTON, 1886.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.
North and South on the eve of War — The Early Days of 1861 — Reluctance
of the Vermonters to believe in the possibility of War — Governor Fair-
banks's Apprehensions— A Warning from Governor Andrews — Salutes
to the Union — Governor Fairbanks Pledges the Support of Vermont to
the Government 4
CHAPTER II.
The State Unprepared for War — Decadence of the Militia — Efforts to
Revive the Militia in 1856 — The Brandon and Montpelier Musters of
1858 and 1860— The Militia in 1860— Military Property of the State,
January, 1861 — Secession Movements — Judge Smalley's Charge to a
New York Grand Jury— Senator Collamer's Bill to Close Southern
Ports — Attitude of Representatives of Vermont in Congress — Prepara-
tions for War — General Order No. 10 — The Peace Conference — Acces-
sion of Abraham Lincoln 8
CHAPTER III.
The Call to Arms — The Governor's First War Proclamation — Detail of
Militia for the First Regiment — Procurement of Arms — A Notable War
Meeting — Popular Feeling in the State — Special Session of the Legis-
lature—Appropriation of a Million Dollars — Other War Measures —
Unanimity of Legislature and People 17
CHAPTER IV.
Organization of the First Regiment — Sketches of the Field Officers— Camp
Fairbanks — Delays in Mustering in — Off at last for the War — General
Scott's Opinion of the Vermonters — Reception at Troy and in New York
— Voyage to Fortress Monroe — Quarters in the Hygeia Hotel — Expe-
dition to Hampton — Occupation of Newport News 28
CHAPTER V.
Organization of the Second Regiment — Sketches of its Field and Staff —
Departure for the War — Receptions on the Way — Arrival in Washing-
ton— Movement into Virginia — Brigaded under Colonel Howard —
Campaign and Battle of Bull Run — List of Killed and Wounded — Part
Taken by other Vermonters — Return to Bush Hill — Disaffection
towards Colonel Whiting — A Case of Discipline — Removal to Camp
Lyon 62
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
The Second Regiment continued— Controversy between Colonel Whiting
and the State Authorities — The Peninsula Campaign — Promotions and
Changes of Officers— The Seven Days' Retreat— Maryland Campaign
of 1862 — First Fredericksburg — Resignation of Colonel Whiting —
Sketch of Colonel Walbridge — Second Fredericksburg and Salem
Heights— Second Maryland Campaign — A Month in New York— Re-
turn to Virginia — Capture of Quartermaster Stone — Execution of
Deserters — Winter at Brandy Station — Resignation of Colonel Wai-
bridge — Sketch of Colonel Stone — The Wilderness Campaign — Death
of Colonels Stone and Tyler — Losses of Officers and Men — End
of Three Years' Term — General Neill's Farewell Order — In the
Shenandoah Valley — Back to Petersburg — Final Campaign— Return
Home. 98
CHAPTER VII.
Organization of the Third Regiment — Rendezvous at St. Johnsbury —
Departure from the State — Arrival at Washington — Sketch of Colonel
William F. Smith — Changes Among the Officers— Fatigue Duty in
Virginia— Pardon of William Scott — Under Fire at Lewinsville— Ar-
rival of other Vermont Regiments— Sickness in the Regiment— The
Peninsular Campaign— Action at Lee's Mill — List of Killed — The Seven
Days' Retreat — The Drummer-boy, Willie Johnson — First Fredericks-
burg — Resignation of Colonel Hyde — Changes in the Roster — Marye's
Heights and Banks's Ford — Service at Newark, N. J.— Winter at
Brandy Station— Losses in the Wilderness Campaign — Skirmish at Fort
Stevens— End of Three Years' Term — Shenandoah Campaign — Peters-
burg—Return Home 126
CHAPTER VIII.
Organization of the Fourth Regiment— Its Field and Staff— Camp Hoi-
brook — Delays in Equipment— Journey to Washington — Arrival at
Camp Advance— Brigaded at Camp Griffin— Remarkable Period of
Sickness— The Spring Campaign of 1862— March to Cloud's Mills— The
Peninsula— Action and Losses at Lee's Mill— Service at Williamsburg
and in front of Richmond— Crampton's Gap and Antietam— Arrival of
Recruits— Promotion of Colonel Stoughton and Changes of Officers-
First Fredericksburg— Winter Quarters at Belle Plain— Marye's Heights
and Banks's Ford— March to Gettysburg— Casualties at Funkstown—
Winter at Brandy Station— Losses in the Wilderness and tho Overland
Campaign— Misfortune at the Weldon Railroad— Action at Charlestown
—Expiration of Three Years' Term— The Shenandoah Campaign— In
the Lines of Petersburg— The Final Assault— Last Marching and Re-
turn Home
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER IX.
Organization of the Fifth Regiment — Rendezvous at St. Albans — Field and
Staff — Departure for Washington — March to Chain Bridge — Sickness
at Cauip Griffin — The Spring Campaign of '62 — Lee's Mill — Golding's
Farm — Hard Fighting and Terrible Loss at Savage's Station — Resigna-
tion of Colonel Smalley and Changes of Field Officers — The Maryland
Campaign— Back to Virginia— First Fredericksburg — Marye's Height
and Banks's Ford — Crossing the Rappahannock and Capturing Missis-
sippians — Funkstown — Rappahannock Station — Re-enlisting for the
War — Furlough and Visit to Vermont — Losses in the Wilderness and
in the Lines of Spottsylvania— Death and Sketch of Major Dudley —
Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Charlestown — Expiration of Three Years*
Term — The Shenandoah Campaign — Final Assault at Petersburg — End
of Fighting and Return Home 180
CHAPTER X.
Organization of the Sixth Regiment— Departure for Washington — Sickness
and Mortality at Camp Griffin— The Spring of 1863— The Sixth at
Lee's Mill, Golding's Farm and Savage's Station— Sickness at Har-
rison's Landing— Crampton's Gap and Antietam — Changes of Field
Officers — Winter of 1862-3 — Fighting at Fredericksburg— Funkstown —
Service in New York — Winter at Brandy Station — Losses in the Wil-
derness— Death and Sketch of Colonel Barney — Personal Incidents— The
Shenandoah Campaign — Expiration of Three Years' Term — Service in
front of Petersburg — Final Marches and Return Home 208
CHAPTER XI.
Organization of the First Vermont Brigade — Its first Commander, General
Brooks — Winter at Camp Griffin — Remarkable period of Sickness —
Opening of the Spring Campaign of 1862— Movement to Fortress Mon-
roe— The March up the Peninsula — Baptism of Blood at Lee's Mill —
Care of the Wounded — The Battle of Williamsburg — March to the
White House on the Pamunkey 235
CHAPTER XII.
The First Brigade, continued— Organization of the Sixth Corps — Move-
ment to the Front of Richmond — Battle of Fair Oaks — Crossing the
Chickahominy — Swamp Fever and Hard Duty — Gaines's Mill and
Golding's Farm — The Retreat from Richmond — Stand of the rear
Guard at Savage's Station— Fighting of the Vermont Brigade — The
Fifth sustains the heaviest loss in killed and wounded ever suffered by
a Vermont regiment — Casualties of the Brigade — The retreat resumed
— Affair at White Oak Swamp — Terrific Confederate cannonade — Firm-
ness of the Vermont troops — The brigade at Malvern Hill — Terrible
march to Harrison's Landing— Bivouac in the mud — Return to Fortress
Monroe and to Alexandria. . 276
XH CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
The First Brigade, continued— The situation, September 1, 1862— The part
of the Sixth corps in Pope's Campaign — The march into Maryland —
Storming of Crampton's Gap— Brilliant action of the Fourth Vermont—
The battle of Antietam— A quiet time at Hagerstown— Stuart's second
raid— Accession of the Twenty-Sixth New Jersey to the brigade— Re-
tirement of General Brooks from the command — Return to Virginia —
Changes of army, corps, division and brigade commanders— McClel-
lan's farewell review— March to the Rappahannock — Burnside's bloody
failure— Howe's division and the Vermont brigade at the First Fred-
ericksburg — Casualties of the brigade — Winter quarters at White
Oak Church— Burnside's mud campaign and retirement from com-
mand 315
CHAPTER XIV.
The First brigade, continued— General Hooker in command of the army—
Sedgwick succeeds Smith as commander of the Sixth corps— The new
brigade commander, Colonel Grant— The Chancellorsville campaign —
The Sixth corps crosses the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg — Storm-
ing of Marye's Heights — Brilliant part of the Vermont brigade — Salem
Heights and Bank's Ford — Details of the fighting of the Vermonters —
The brigade covers the recrossing of the Sixth corps — Losses of the
Vermont troops— Return to White Oak Church 350
CHAPTER XV.
The First brigade, continued — Preliminary movements of the Gettysburg
campaign— The Fifth Vermont crosses the Rappahannock and captures
the Confederate pickets — The rest of the brigade follows — Sharp skir-
mishing on the south bank— The march to the north— Meeting of the
First and Second Vermont brigades— Hard marching in Maryland —
"Put the Vermonters ahead and keep the column closed up." — General
Meade succeeds Hooker— Arrival on the field of Gettysburg — Engage-
ment at Funkstown — Recrossing the Potomac — The brigade goes to
New York city to sustain the drafts — Return to and reception by
the Sixth corps— Marching and counter marching— Battle of Rap-
pahannock Station— The Mine Run campaign— Winter at Brandy
Station 379
CHAPTER XVI.
The First brigade, continued— General U. S. Grant, Commander-in-Chief—
Consolidation of the corps— Getty takes command of the division —
Changes in the brigade— Review of he situation— Campaign of the
Wilderness— The service of Getty's division— The part of the Vermont
brigade— Terrific fighting— A thousand Vermonters killed and wounded
CONTENTS. YTTJ
the first day ; two hundred the second day — Heavy losses of officers —
March to Spottsylvania — The Yermonters cheered by the Sixth corps-
Death of General Sedgwick — General Wright succeeds to command of
corps — Fighting in the lines of Spottsylvania— Charge on the Salient —
The struggle at the Bloody Angle — Losses of the Vermont regiments —
The Eleventh regiment joins the brigade — Picket duty between the lines
— Movement to the North Anna — March to Cold Harbor. ... 412
CHAPTER XVII.
The First brigade, continued — Cold Harbor— Part taken by the brigade the
first day — Assault of the second day — Gallant part of Stannard's brigade
— Unsuccessful attack of the third day — The army in trenches — Expos-
ures and sufferings of the troops — Movement of the army to the James —
Investment of Petersburg — Movement of the Sixth and Second corps
against the Weldon Railroad — Heavy loss of the brigade — Over 400
Vermonters captured — Over half of them die in rebel prisons — Expedi-
tion against the Danville and Lynchburg Railroad — Back again to
Washington — Early's raid — Th6 Sixth corps sent to meet him — Presi-
dent Lincoln wants to see the Vermont brigade — Engagement in front
of Fort Stevens — Hard marching in Maryland and Virginia — First
sight of the Shenandoah Valley — Return to Washington — A hot day at
Harper's Ferry and march to Frederick, Md. — Results of Halleck's
strategy in chasing cavalry with infantry — Change of commanders —
Sketch of General Sheridan — Return of the Sixth corps to the
Valley 461
CHAPTER XVIII.
The First Brigade, continued — Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley —
Strength and situation of the opposing armies — Movement to the South
—Early reinforced— Sheridan retires down the Valley — Engagement at
Charlestown — The Vermont brigade holds the skirmish line against a
Confederate division — Casualties in the V* miont regiments — Recon-
noissance to Gilbert's Ford — Visit from Gene al Grant — The battle of
the Opequon — Part of the Vermont brigade — The grand charge upon
Winchester — Losses of the brigade — Battle of Fisher's Hill — Colonel
Warner carries Flint's Hill — Crook's flank mov< ment— Charge of Getty's
and Ricketts's divisions, and flight of Early— Thr-'e weeks of marching
and mano3uvring — The Sixth corps starts for Washington but returns
to Cedar Creek — Battle of Cedar Creek — The surprise in the morning —
Gallant stand of Colonel Thomas and the Eighth Vermont — Action of
the Tenth Vermont — The part of Getty's division and the Vermont
brigade — Arrival of Sheridan — The grand advance of the Sixth and
Nineteenth corps, and final charge of the cavalry — Casualties of the
Vermont brigade — Close of the campaign— Voting for President — A
month of rest at Kernstown — Departure from the Valley. . . . 500
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
The First Brigade, concluded— Return to Petersburg— The Winter of
1864-5 in the Trenches— Capture of the Enemy's Intrenched Picket
Line by the Sixth Corps— Action and Casualties of the Vermont Brigade
—Arduous Picket Duty— The Final Grand Assault— The Vermont
Brigade heads the Entering Wedge of the Sixth Corps — The Vermonters
storm the Works in their Front, capture Nineteen Guns and Many
Prisoners, and push in to Lee's Headquarters — The Sixth corps takes
Three miles of Works — Casualties of the Vermont Regiments — Fall of
Richmond and Closing Scenes of the War — Pursuit of Lee — Last Skir-
mish at Sailor's Creek — The Surrender at Appomattox — Last Marches
and Reviews of the Brigade — General Grant's Farewell Address — The
Final Muster Out 569
CHAPTER XX.
Final Statement of the First Brigade — Some suggestive statistics — Testi
mony of its commanders to the quality of the troops of the Brigade. —
End of Vol. 1 617
POETEAITS ILLUSTBATING YOLUME I.
GOVEENOE EEASTUS FAIEBANKS Frontispiece.
ADJT. GENEEAL P. T. WASHBUEN Opposite page 28
MAJ. GENEEAL WILLIAM F. SMITH " "136
BEIG. GENEEAL W. T. H. BROOKS " " 236
BVT. MAJ. GENERAL L. A. GRANT " "352
MAJ. GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK . " " 440
MAPS AND SKETCHES.
Sketch of battlefield of Big Bethel Opposite page 52
Sketch of the First Bull Run page 73
Map of the line of the Warwick River Opposite page 243
Map of the Peninsula " "280
Sketch of battlefield of Savage's Station page 294
Sketch of battlefield of Crampton's Gap "321
Battlefield of the First Fredericksburg Opposite page 338
Battlefield of Marye's and Salem Heights ..-•-. " "368
Battlefield of the Wilderness " "417
Battlefield of the Opequon " "512
Battlefields of Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek " "544
Battlefield of Petersburg, April 2d, '65 . " " 600
INTRODUCTION.
The story of the part taken by Vermont in the great
civil strife of 1861-5, if it can be fully and fairly told, will
need little garnish for its facts, in order to command atten-
tion and respect. It is the war record of a small and rural
commonwealth, heavily drained of its able-bodied men oy
emigration, without large towns or floating population, and
having thus much less than the average proportion of the
material out of which modern armies are made — but which
nevertheless sent to the war ten men for every one hundred
of its population, and out of a total enrollment of thirty-
seven thousand men liable to do military duty, stood credited
at last with nearly thirty-four thousand volunteers. The
Vermonters were eminently men of peace; but they won
honorable distinction as soldiers. The history of the war
cannot be written without frequent and honorable mention
of them. A Vermont regiment was the first to throw up the
sacred soil of Virginia into Union intrenchments. Vermont
troops made the first assault upon a Confederate fortification.
In almost every great battle fought in the succeeding years
by the Army of the Potomac, Vermonters took an honorable
part. In the turning point of the turning struggle of the
war on the red and slippery slopes of Gettysburg, in the
2 INTRODUCTION.
dark jungle of the Wilderness, and in the final piercing of
the defences of Kichmond, they took a decisive part. Ver-
monters led the blue column which bore the stars and stripes
through the blazing streets of the Confederate Capitol, in
the closing scenes of the bloody drama, and Vermont soldiers
were in motion upon the last charge of the war, at Appo-
mattox, when it was arrested by the surrender of Lee. The
war ended, and the enemies of the Union could point to the
colors of no Vermont organization that had been yielded to
them in action, while the troops of no other State could
claim more rebel colors taken in battle, in proportion to their
total numbers, than stood credited to the troops of Vermont.
In proportion to population, Vermont had more of her sons
killed in battle than any other Northern State, and gave to
the cause of the Union more lives lost from all causes than
any other State.
It is the task of the writer of these pages to set down
the portion of this noteworthy record which relates especially
to the service of the Vermont troops in the field. As pre-
liminary to this it will be well to note some connected facts
which form a part of the general history of the State and of
the period.
CHAPTEE I.
North and South on the eve of War— The Early Days of 1861— Reluctance
of the Vermonters to believe In the possibility of War — Governor
Fairbanks's Apprehensions — A Warning from Governor Andrew —
Salutes to the Union— Governor Fairbanks pledges the Support of
Vermont to the Government.
To one who looks back to the events preceding the first
call of President Lincoln for volunteers, nothing seems
stranger than the unwillingness of the men of the Northern
States to believe in the possibility of civil war. Leading
men of the South had meditated and threatened secession
for years. In furtherance of their purpose of rebellion,
which as one of the chief actors in the secession of South
Carolina avowed, " had been gathering head for thirty years,"
the military spirit had been kept alive in the South, while it
had languished and well nigh disappeared in the North.
The most ominous signs of the coming trouble failed to alarm
the people of the Northern States. The rumble of the
wagons which took 130,000 stand of arms from the United
States Arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, on their way
to Southern depots, had resounded day after day in the
streets of that city, and no one had lifted voice or finger
to stop the transfer. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas adopted ordi-
nances of secession, and their Senators and Representa-
tives withdrew from the national Congress. Actual war
was levied upon the United States Government by the seizure
4 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of forts and arsenals by Southern State militiamen. A pro-
visional Confederate Congress of the seceding States assem-
bled, and a Confederate Government was organized — and
still the people of Vermont, like those of other Northern
States, believed that there was to be no fighting and did
nothing to prepare for it. This inaction was not the apathy
of fear or stupidity. It was owing rather to a devotion to
the Union, so absolute that those who held it could not bring
themselves to believe that any large share of the people of
the United States did not share it ; to a belief that the bet-
ter impulses of the Southern masses would yet counteract
the schemes of the traitors and hotheads among them ; and
in part also to the advice of optimists at Washington and
elsewhere, who insisted that the storm was going to blow
over, and deprecated all preparations and demonstrations
looking towards forcible support of the national authority,
as tending to stir up strife and defeat a peaceable solution
of the difficulty.
At the opening of the year 1861, Erastus Fairbanks, of
St. Johnsbury, was Governor of Vermont. A staid and stable
citizen, a successful man of business, a dignified and courte-
ous Christian gentleman, he was also an upright and faithful
public servant and a true patriot. Levi Underwood, of Bur-
lington, a leading lawyer, a man of marked independence
and ability, was Lieutenant Governor; Solomon Foot and
Jacob Collamer, trusted and honored by all, represented
Vermont in the United States Senate; Justin S. Morrill,
Eliakim P. Walton and Homer E. Royce, were her worthy
representatives in the lower House of Congress.
The early days of 1861, were anxious days for public
men, and evidence is not wanting that the authorities of
"V ermont appreciated to some extent the national emergency.
On the 5th of January, 1861, Governor Fairbanks wrote to
Governor Buckingham of Connecticut as follows: "I am
" desirous to learn your views as to the expediency of legis-
•'
THE EYE OF WAK.
" lation in the Free States at the present time touching the
"affairs of the General Government and the action of certain
"Southern States. * * * Should the plans of the
" Secessionists in South Carolina and other cotton States be
"persevered in and culminate in the design to seize upon
"the National Capital, will it be prudent to delay a demon-
"stration on the part of the Free States assuring the
"General Government of their united co-operation in put-
"ting down rebellion and sustaining the Constitution and
"the dignity of the United States Government?" Before he
had closed this letter he received a startling message from
another New England governor, who had passed the point of
doubt as to the designs of the secessionists, and reached the
point of action.
John A. Andrew was inaugurated as Governor of Massa-
chusetts, Saturday, January 5th, and that very evening he
despatched messengers to the governors of the other New
England States, bearing letters in which he informed them
that he had information which satisfied him that the seces-
sionists had determined to take Washington before the 4th
of March, and perhaps within thirty da}'S, and that he was
about to put a portion of the Massachusetts militia in readi-
ness for active service, and urged them to make similar
preparation for defence of the National Capital. The
messenger despatched to Governor Fairbanks was a Colo-
nel "Wardrop, of New Bedford, commanding the Third
Regiment of Massachusetts Militia. He went first to Mont-
pelier, supposing that he would find the Governor at the
State Capital; arrived there Sunday morning, and thence
drove across to St. Johnsbury, which town he reached that
evening. He was a pretty leaky vessel to hold communica-
tions of such importance, and made little secret of his
errand. The consequence was the appearance of paragraphs
in the Montpelier, St. Johnsbury and New Bedford papers,
announcing that Colonel Wardrop was the bearer of de-
6 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
spatches from Governor Andrew to the Governor of Vermont,
urging the enlistment and equipment of the militia in antici-
pation of a requisition from the President. These reports
caused no little stir, and it was deemed expedient to con-
tradict them. A Boston paper accordingly denied that there
was any truth in them. The denial was generally accepted,
and the matter passed out of the public attention for the
time being. The statements, however, were true.
Governor Andrew added, in his message to the gov-
ernors, the suggestion that the 8th of January, being the
anniversary of General Jackson's victory at New Orleans in
1815, should be made an occasion for demonstrations of
loyalty by the firing of national salutes in the cities and
larger towns. The idea of this came, as it is now known,
from Hon. Charles Francis Adams, then a [Representa-
tive of Massachusetts in Congress. The suggestion was
adopted by Governor Fairbanks. He despatched telegrams
and messengers to Montpelier, Burlington, St. Albans, Rut-
land, Brattleboro, Bennington, Woodstock, Windsor and
other towns, in all or most of which, salutes of 100 guns
were fired at noon of the 8th "in honor of the Union of
States, and of Major Anderson, the gallant defender of the
country's honor," whose occupation of Fort Sumter, two
weeks previous, had been hailed throughout the North with
the liveliest satisfaction as evidence of a determination to
resist the surrender of Charleston harbor to the secessionists.
Governor Andrew's advice to convene the Legislature
and equip the Vermont militia for active service, was more
cautiously received. Governor Fairbanks at once wrote to
the Vermont Senators and Representatives at Washington,
announcing the information and advice he had received, and
requesting their views upon the subject. He added that if
the information was confirmed he should not hesitate to call
a special session of the Legislature. But if the revolu-
tionists had actually planned to take Washington, in his
THE EVE OF WAR. 7
opinion they would not wait even thirty days, and he hoped
that the Secretary of "War and General Scott were preparing
for the worst. He communicated also with Governor Morgan,
of New York, and with some or all of the New England Gov-
ernors, requesting their views upon the emergency, and
suggesting concert of action in preparing for the contingency
of a call for troops to defend the Capital.
To Governor Andrew he replied that he deemed it
desirable that provisional measures be adopted by the
legislatures of the Free States to resist the treasonable
designs of the Secessionists ; that he was awaiting advices
from the Eepresentatives of Vermont in Congress, and that
he should call a special session of the Yermont Legislature
if it was recommended by them, or if the Governors of the
New England States should concur in such action.
The information he received in reply to his letters
proved to be of such a character that he did not deem it best
to call the Legislature together in advance of a requisition
from Washington. But he authorized the Yermont Senators
to inform President Buchanan that he stood ready to respond
to any requisition for troops, by calling into the service the
uniformed militia of Yermont, and by accepting the services
of volunteers to any extent needed.
The remaining days of the winter wore away, with
accumulating evidence of the purpose of the South to divide
the Union, with rising indignation on the part of the Yer-
monters without distinction of party, and stern resolve that
the Union should not be divided; with abundant conscious
and unconscious nerving of purpose to sustain the Govern-
ment and the flag ; but with little open or actual preparation
for fighting, and with a lingering hope that the dread altern-
ative of war might yet be averted, growing fainter daily till
it was blown to the winds by the hot breath of the guns that
opened upon Sumter.
CHAPTEE II.
The State unprepared for War— Decadence of the Militia— Efforts to
Revive the Militia in 1856— The Brandon and Montpelier Musters of
1858 and 1860— The Militia in 1860— Military Property of the State,
January, 1861— Secession Movements — Judge Smalley's Charge to a
New York Grand Jury— Senator Collamer's Bill to Close Southern
Ports — Attitude of Representatives of Vermont in Congress — Prepara-
tions for War— General Order No. 10— The Peace Conference — Acces-
sion of Abraham Lincoln.
If it be true, as has been said, " that when the war did
actually come no people on earth were less prepared for it
than those of the United States," 1 it is also true that the
people of no State of the Union were less prepared for it
than those of Vermont.
The tide of emigration to the great West and the
Pacific slope had kept the State stationary in population
and well nigh stationary in means. The Yermonters were
the heirs of a rich inheritance of military glory, for they
were the lineal descendants of the men who, fourteen years
before their Commonwealth was admitted to the Union, and
while it was as yet an unorganized community, pledged to
the Continental Congress the service of "more than five
thousand hardy soldiers, capable of bearing arms in defence
of American Liberty." 2 This amounted to an offer of the
1 Address of General W. T. Sherman at the meeting of the Society of
the Army of the Potomac, Hartford, Ct., June, 1881.
8 Declaration of Jonas Fay, Thomas Chittenden, Heman Allen and
Reuben Jones, to Congress, in behalf of the inhabitants of the New Hamp-
shire Grants, Jan. 15, 1777.
REVIVAL OF THE MILITIA. 9
service of almost the entire fighting population of the infant
State ; and they also offered that the quota of Vermont in
the war with Great Britain, should be "clothed, quartered
and paid by the State of Vermont." Their pledge was
fulfilled, the world knows how, at Ticonderoga and Ben-
nington and on many a battlefield of the Revolution. But
the military spirit had become dormant among the Ver-
monters. The time had passed away when every Vermonter
was as handy with the rifle as with the axe. The State had
ceased to make appropriations for the support of the militia.
The " June trainings" had become a joke, and most of the
people believed that all need of military arts and munitions
was soon to be ended by the approaching end of wars and
fighting among civilized nations. More than fifteen years
before the outbreak of the Civil War, all State laws requir-
ing the enrolled militia to do military duty, except in cases
of insurrection, war, invasion, or to suppress riots, had been
repealed. The effort to provide a limited active militia
force by " uniform companies," raised at large, had failed.
The uniformed companies had one by one disbanded ; and in
1856 there was not, and had not been for ten years, even the
semblance of a military organization. This was a condition
of affairs which was a source of serious disquiet to far-seeing
citizens, who did not believe that the millennium had yet
come, or that it was impossible that law and right should
again need the support of force; and between the years
1855 and 1861, considerable effort had been made to revive
the militia.
In 1856 a law was passed, designed to encourage the
formation of military companies, giving three dollars a year
to each member of such a company, who should be armed
and uniformed and should drill not less than three days
during the year. Under such slight stimulus — every dollar
so earned requiring the expenditure of ten dollars on the
part of the militia-man — a few companies were organized in
10 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the years 1857 and 1858. They were small, numbering
generally less than fifty men to a company. The members
procured their own uniforms, and arms were supplied by the
State. There were then no regimental organizations.
In the summer of 1858, Governor Byland Fletcher, who
had been a militia officer under the old regime and who felt
a strong interest in the revival of the militia, invited — it was
an invitation and not an order — the various companies in
the State to muster at Brandon for inspection and review.
To this invitation nine companies responded. They were
the Woodstock Light Infantry, Captain P. T. Washburn;
the Green Mountain Eangers, of Granville, Captain J. B.
Richardson; the Allen Greys, of Brandon, Captain Joseph
Bush; the Howard Guard, of Burlington, Lieutenant Com-
manding Edward Lyman; the Middlebury Light Guard,
Captain E. S. Hayward; the Swanton Guards, Captain
George M. Hall; the Hansom Guard, of St. Albans, Captain
T. F. House; the Green Mountain Guard, of Bellows Falls,
Captain S. G. Haskins; and the Cavendish Light Infantry,
(just organized and not appearing on parade), Captain John
F. Deane. They mustered on this occasion about 450
muskets. They had no tents and were quartered in the halls
and houses in the village. There were present as guests,
upon the invitation of Governor Fletcher, Adjutant General
Ebenezer W. Stone, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Robert
Cowdin, of the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer
Militia, with his staff. There being no Yermonter present
capable of instructing the companies in battalion drill, at the
request of Governor Fletcher, Adjutant General Stone took
command, and gave the militia-men their first instruction in
battalion movements. There was a large attendance of
spectators, a torch-light procession and public meeting with
speeches by prominent citizens on the evening of the first
day, and an inspection and review on the second day, at the
close of which the Governor took command, and forming the
KEYIVAL OF THE MILITIA. 11
battalion in column by company, stormed a rocky hill on one
side of the parade ground, amid the applause of thousands.
This muster had its intended effect in a very general increase
of public interest in the militia. New companies were formed,
in different parts of the State, and during the next year the
companies were organized into four regiments, constituting a
brigade, which was placed under the command of Brigadier
General Alonzo Jackman, Professor in the Norwich Military
Academy.
On the 30th of August, 1860, by order of Governor
Hiland Hall, a brigade muster took place at Montpelier. In
this, fourteen out of seventeen organized companies which
drew pay that year from the State, took part, mustering, with
field and staff officers and music, not far from 900 men. The
First Begiment, Colonel J. Bush, consisted on this occasion
of four companies; the Second Regiment, Colonel W. W.
Cochran, of five companies, to which was added the only
company of the Third Eegiment present, and the Fourth
Eegiment, Colonel George J. Stannard, of four companies
— all under command of Brigadier General Jackman. The
brigade went regularly into camp in tents provided by the
State, and during the muster the men had their first instruc-
tion and experience in camp life, with which many of them
were soon to become so familiar.
At the close of the year 1860, the books of the Adjutant
General's office bore the names of twenty-two organized
companies ; but of these five had little more than a nominal
existence. The other seventeen were uniformed according
to the varying taste and means of the several companies, but
without overcoats, and most of them were armed with smooth-
bore percussion muskets, one or two companies, however,
having only old flint-locks. These were nominally organized
into a brigade of four regiments, under command of Brigadier
General Alonzo Jackman. The regimental commanders
in February, 1861, were: First Eegiment, Colonel C. H.
12 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Joyce, of Nortlifield ; Second Kegiment, Colonel W. W.
Cochran, of Bellows Falls ; Third Kegiment, Colonel D. W.
Blanchard, of Coventry; Fourth Eegiment, Colonel George
J. Stannard, of St. Albans. The regimental organization,
was, however, in each case, little more than a list on paper.
The military property of the State, in January, 1861,
consisted of 957 muskets; seven six pounder field pieces,
three of brass and four of iron ; 503 Colt's pistols, described
by the Quartermaster General as "of no practical use what-
ever ;" and 104 tents. In other words the State had arms to
arm a single army regiment, no more.
During the winter and spring of 1861, acts of rebellion
in the Southern States followed rapidly. The transport Star
of the West, laden with troops for the reinforcement of Fort
Sumter, was fired upon and driven from Charleston Harbor
by the South Carolina batteries. State after State passed
ordinances of Secession. Fort after fort in the South was
occupied by Southern State Militia. A rapid recruiting of
military companies was going on at the South, and the
seceding States were providing themselves with arms and
munitions of war, a considerable portion of which were sup-
plied from New York city. The attitude of the State of
Yermont, as represented by her public men at this time, was
not equivocal. On the 14th of January, Hon. D. A. Smalley,
United States District Judge for the District of Yermont, sit-
ting for the time being in the United States Circuit Court for
the Southern District of New York, delivered to the Grand
Jury a memorable charge, in which he defined the seizures of
Federal forts and property by the Southern Militia to be
acts of treason, and declared that "any individual owing
allegiance to the United States who shall furnish these
Southern traitors with arms or munitions of war, vessels, or
means of transportation, or materials which will aid the
traitors in carrying out their traitorous purpose, is clearly
liable to be indicted, tried, convicted and executed as a
THE EVE OF WAR. 13
traitor — for death is the penalty of treason !" On the 23d of
January, Senator Collamer introduced in the United States
Senate the only practical measure of resistance proposed in
that Congress — a bill authorizing the President to close the
ports of the seceded States, and suspending the United States
mail service in those States. A few days later, Hon. E. P.
Walton, of Vermont, declared in a speech upon the floor of
the House of Representatives, that "to compromise with
Secession was to license rebellion for all future time, and
that it would be more dangerous to surrender to rebellion
than to resist it." Hon. Justin S. Merrill, of Vermont, at the
same time avowed his opinion that no compromise was pos-
sible, and declared that for one he would do nothing to admit
the right of secession, or to commit the Republic "to the
crumbling processes of mutiny and decay."
On the 26th of January, the first open note of prepara-
tion for the impending conflict on the part of the State of
Vermont, appeared in the publication of an executive order,
dated January 21st, directing the Adjutant and Inspector
General to issue notices to the town clerks and listers who
had failed — as most of them had done — to make returns of
the number of persons liable to do service in the militia in
their respective towns, requiring their immediate compliance
with the statute on that subject. This was followed by an
order — General Order No. 10— to the officers of the various
companies of uniformed militia, directing them to ascertain
at once whether any men in their commands were unable
or indisposed to respond to the orders of the Commander
in Chief, made upon any requisition of the President of
the United States to aid in the maintenance of the laws
and the peace of the Union, in order that they might be
discharged and their places filled by men ready for any
public exigency that might arise. The captains were directed
in the same order to make proper exertions to have all
14 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
vacancies in the ranks of their companies filled, and the
men properly drilled and uniformed.
Compliance with the first of these orders was very slow
on the part of the listers, and the enrollment of the Militia
was still so imperfect when the call for troops came, that
the number of men liable to do military duty in the State
could not be determined with even an approximation to
correctness '
To General Order No. 10, the captains of ten companies
made written response, reporting an aggregate of 376 men
armed, partly equipped, and willing to respond to a call to
active service. 2 The largest company numbered but seventy-
five officers and men, and the average of the rest was
less than fifty. The companies generally began to brush up
in drill; but very little progress was made towards filling
their ranks.
Meantime the possibility of a peaceful solution of the
national problem was kept alive by fresh schemes of com-
promise proposed in Congress, and by negotiations between
the Southern leaders and the administration at Washington.
The famous Peace Conference had also been called by the
Legislature of Virginia, and Governor Fairbanks had ap-
pointed five prominent citizens — Ex-Governor Hiland Hall,
Lieutenant Governor Underwood, Hon. L. E. Chittenden,
1 Adjutant General's Report, 1862, p. 6.
2 The commanders of other companies probably made verbal response
to the order. Replies from only ten captains are on file in the Adjutant
General's Office. One captain replied that as his company had had nothing
but old flint-lock muskets, and the State had refused or delayed to supply
them proper guns and equipments, they "were not disposed to respond.
Another captain asked to be excused from acting under General Order No.
10, on the ground that the order was not in accordance with any law of the
State of Vermont or other authority. He added, however, that his men
were "ready to do their duty at all times under the laws of the State or
of the United States." And the event proved that he knew his men; for
when the call came the company was one of the first to respond. It
inarched with full ranks, and no company rendered better service.
THE EVE OF WAR. 15
Adjutant General H. H. Baxter, and Hon B. D. Harris — as
commissioners to represent Yermont in the Conference.
During the session of the Conference, protracted with
closed doors for twenty-four days, the Confederate Govern-
ment had organized at Montgomery, Alabama, with Jefferson
Davis as its president. Yet the hope that Virginia and the
other border slave States might be held back from Seces-
sion,1 and that in that or some other way the impending
collision might be averted, though faint at strongest, was
sufficient to hold in abeyance all active preparations for war
in the Green Mountain State.
The 4th of March came and went without an outbreak.
The schemes of the hot-heads for the capture of Washington
had been held in check by the more cautious Southern
leaders; and a President committed to the pusillanimous
doctrine of "non-coercion," had given place to Abraham
Lincoln, who in his inaugural pronounced the Union to be
still unbroken and announced his purpose to "hold, occupy
and possess the property and places belonging to the Govern-
1 The attitude of Virginia, as the representative and most powerful of
the border States, was aptly set forth in the following lines, contributed to
the New York Commercial Advertiser:
VIRGINIA TO THE NORTH.
Thus speaks the Sovereign Old Dominion
To Northern States her frank opinion,
FIRST.
Move not a flnger ; 't is coercion,
The signal for our prompt dispersion.
SECOND.
Walt till I make my full decision,
Be it for union or division.
If I declare my ultimatum
Accept my terms as I shall state 'em.
Then I'll remain while I'm Inclined to,
Seceding when 1 have a mind to.
16 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
m3nt." Yet Mr. Lincoln still held out the olive branch to the
secessionists ; and the people of Vermont, who had followed
his leadership with a greater approach to unanimity than
any other community of equal numbers, were willing to share
his hope that the madness of rebellion would yet give way to
reason and patriotism.
CHAPTEE III.
The Call to Arms — The Governor's First "War Proclamation — Detail of
Militia for the First Regiment — Procurement of Arms — A Notable War
Meeting — Popular Feeling in the State — Special Session of the Legis-
lature— Appropriation of a Million Dollars — Other War Measures
. — Unanimity of the Legislature and People.
The roar of the cannon which echoed from Charleston
Harbor throughout the land on the 12th of April, 1861,
awoke the soundest sleeper from his dream of peace. The
people of Vermont rose with the grand uprising of the
North ; and thenceforward for four years the main thought
of the people of the State, without distinction of party, sex
or condition, was how they should do the most to aid the
Government in its task of quelling rebellion, and preserving
the union of the States.
The news of the surrender of Fort Sumter and Presi-
dent Lincoln's first call for 75,000 troops reached Vermont
on the 14th of April. The first was received with most
intense indignation; the latter with inexpressible satisfac-
tion. There had been so much talk by public men of want
of constitutional power to compel a seceding State to
remain in the Union, and of absence of authority to enforce
the laws of the United States except through the formal pro-
cess of the issuing of writs from a United States Court, to be
executed by a United States Marshal, and Mr. Lincoln's own
spirit and utterances had been so conciliatory and peaceable
that the people had come almost to doubt the Government's
power of self preservation, and at least to wonder at what
18 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
stage of rebellion it could be and would be exerted. The
President's call to arms "by virtue of powers in me vested
by the Constitution and the laws," his announcement that
the first duty of the troops would be " to repossess the forts,
places and property " which had been seized from the Union,
and his appeal to all loyal citizens to " maintain the honor,
the integrity and existence of our National Union, and the
perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs
already long enough endured," settled all such doubts and
were hailed with a feeling of relief and joy past all ex-
pression.
The response of the State in its organic capacity was
prompt. Governor Fairbanks at once issued a proclamation
announcing the outbreak of armed robellion, the receipt of a
requisition from the President of the United States, calling
for a regiment for immediate service, and the issuance of
the necessary orders for immediate response thereto; and
calling a special session of the Legislature, to organize, arm
and equip the militia, and to co-operate with the general
Government in the suppression of the Southern insurrection.
This proclamation bore even date with President Lincoln's
proclamation, and is believed to have antedated by at least
a day all similar proclamations issued by the Governors of
the other Free States.
The circular of the Secretary of War, accompanying the
President's requisition, called for one regiment of infantry,
of 780 men, from Yermont. The State, as we have shown,
had not a regiment in readiness to march. Colonel Stannard,
of the Fourth Militia Regiment, indeed notified Adjutant
General Baxter that his regiment would be ready to march
at twelve hours notice ; l but it consisted of but four com-
panies, numbering all told less than 200 men, and these were
really in no condition to take the field, though they would
1 Colonel Stannard is believed to have been the first Vermonter to
volunteer, after the call for troops.
RESPONSE TO THE CALL TO ARMS. 19
have gone as they were if the offer had been accepted.
Several companies in other regiments indicated their readi-
ness to march at a day's notice. Governor Fairbanks
replied to the Secretary of War that he would place a
regiment at his disposal as soon as it could be equipped ; and
gave immediate orders to Adjutant General Baxter for the
detailing of ten companies of the Uniform Militia, and to
Quartermaster General Davis to procure the necessary knap-
sacks, overcoats, blankets, and camp equipage. General
Davis went at once to the Springfield (Mass.) armory for
rifled muskets to fully arm the regiment, the State having
then but 500 rifled muskets. Colonel Ingersoll, in command
of the armory, would not deliver the arms without an order
from the Ordnance Department at Washington, or from
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts. General Davis there-
upon hastened to Boston, procured an order from Governor
Andrew for 300 rifled muskets, and an hour later they were
on board the cars for Rutland, Vermont. General Davis
obtained overcoats and blankets for the regiment, such as
were being procured for the Massachusetts volunteers, in
Boston. The more spirited of the company commanders
had at the first n3ws of the call for troops abandoned their
customary business, thrown open the armories of the com-
panies and commenced recruiting, with prompt and ample
response from the young men of their respective towns.
On the evening of April 19th the field officers of the
several Militia regiments met at Burlington, by order of
Adjutant General Baxter, to consult with him and General
Jackman and to select the companies which were to form the
First Eegiment of Vermont Volunteers. Eight companies
• — the Bradford, Brandon, Burlington, Northfield, Rutland,
St. Albans, Swanton and Woodstock companies — were
reported as substantially full and in efficient condition.
From the several other companies reported as less fully
prepared, the Middlebury and Cavendish companies were
20 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
selected to make up the quota for the " Vermont Contingent."
The companies all commenced active drill, and put them-
selves in readiness to obey marching orders.
While the State officers were thus giving their utmost
energies to secure prompt response to the President's call
the people of Vermont were seconding their efforts in all pos-
sible ways. Public meetings were held in every considerable
town and village in the State to express the loyal sentiments
of the people, to encourage volunteers, to pledge men for the
Union, and money to equip them and to support their
families in their absence. One of the first of these may be
briefly described as a sample of all. It was called in Bur-
lington by a number of leading citizens on the 17th of April,
and met on the evening of the 18th. The town hall, holding
over a thousand persons, was filled to overflowing and hun-
dreds went away from the doors unable to gain entrance.
The meeting was called to order by Hon. George W. Bene-
dict, and President Calvin Pease of the University of
Vermont, was made Chairman. Hon. George P. Marsh, then
on the eve of his departure as United States Minister to
Italy, was the principal speaker. He said: "Our people,
slow to move, are now roused, and are swayed by a spirit
mightier than any that has stirred them since Bunker Hill.
Party distinctions are dropped, millions of money are offered
to the Government, and volunteers to any number needed
are pouring to the rendezvous. They will before long meet
the Southrons face to face, and I venture to predict will
make good General Washington's description, when he gave
it as the result of his observations, that the Northern soldiers
if not in as great a hurry as some others to get into battle,
were also not in so great a hurry to get out of it. From the
scenes and labors of this time of trial, I, in the discharge of
the duties to which I have been called, must go. It is for
you to remain and like our ancestors of revolutionary memory
to pledge your lives, your fortunes and your sacred honor
RESPONSE TO THE CALL TO AEMS. 21
to the Constitution we have sworn to maintain. The Legis-
lature has been called to meet in special session. If you
would give your representative his instructions tell him to
advocate the appropriation by the State of half a million
of dollars in money, and the raising not of one regiment "but
of four, six, ten or twenty regiments if necessary, for the
support of the Government." As Mr. Marsh spoke a large
United States flag was flung from one of the galleries in the
hall, and as the eyes of the audience fell on the broad folds
of red, white and blue, they sprang to their feet, cheering
with contagious and electric enthusiasm, till many of them
burst into tears and cried like children, with overpowering
emotion. Stirring speeches were made by Hon George F.
Edmunds, J. S. Adams, and other citizens. A leading dem-
ocrat, I. B. Bowdish, said he had been one of the hardest of
hardshell democrats ; he had believed as well as he could
that the negro was born to servitude and that his con-
dition was improved by it in this country; but having
stood up for the rights of the South, he now stood up for
the North and for the flag. Civil war had begun, and he
knew of no polite way of carrying it on. He was for appro-
priating every dollar and for sending every available man if
necessary to settle this question. Eesolutions were unani-
mously adopted instructing the representative of Burlington
in the Legislature to vote for a war appropriation of $500,000,
and in favor of pledging the entire military force of the
State for the support of the Federal Government. Sub-
scription lists for men and money were opened ; twenty-one
volunteers (in addition to a number already enlisted) enrolled
their names on the spot, and several thousand dollars were
pledged for the support of the families of volunteers during
their absence.
Similar scenes were witnessed all over the State. The
public meetings and flag-raisings were so numerous that the
newspapers could not chronicle them and noticed only the
22 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
larger and more notable of them. The stars and stripes flew
from almost every public building and from thousands of
private ones, to an extent limited only by the supply
of red, white and blue bunting, which fell far short of the
demand. The offers of money for the equipment of volun-
teers and for the support of their families during their
absence in the army aggregated hundreds of thousands of
dollars. The two Montpelier banks each placed $25,000 at
the disposal of Governor Fairbanks for the equipment of
troops. The Bank of Burlington tendered ten per cent, of its
capital for the same purpose and more if needed. The Bank
of St. Albans made a similar offer. James E. Langdon, of
Montpelier, offered to the State $20,000 from his private
fortune. Thomas McDaniels, at a war meeting held in Ben-
nington, tendered $10,000 to the State authorities. At a
meeting in St. Johnsbury, the firm of E. & T. Fairbanks
pledged $2,000 to a fund for the support of families of volun-
teers. At a meeting in Winooski, William C. Harding headed
a similar paper with $1,000, and offered to make it $10,000 if
needed. T. W. Park, Esq., of San Francisco, California, sent
to Governor Fairbanks his check for $1,000 to help fit
out the sons of his native State for battle, or to support
the families of those who should fall in defence of the flag.
F. P. Fletcher of Bridport, pledged $1,000 a year during the
war to assist the families of volunteers. Many towns voted
considerable sums to be raised on the Grand List, and still
larger amounts were pledged on subscription papers for the
equipment of the Militia and for the support of the families
of volunteers. Men and money were thus tendered all over
the State. The students of the University of Yermont and
of Middlebury College organized themselves into military
companies and began drilling. The services of every man
in the State capable of drilling a squad of recruits were
called into use. All the railroad and transportation com-
panies tendered their lines and boats to the Governor, free,
RESPONSE TO THE CALL TO ARMS. 23
for the transportation of troops and munitions of war. The
women of the towns from which companies were chosen
assembled daily and labored industriously in the making of
uniforms for the recruits, and a resolution adopted by an
association of 200 ladies of Burlington saying: "We further
resolve that we will consider all our time and all our energies
sacred to this object — [the restoration of the authority of
the Government] — until it shall be accomplished, and if need
be until the end of the war," expressed the devotion of their
sex. The State was in a blaze of patriotic feeling which melted
all barriers of party, sect or station. Those who did not
share it probably did not number one in a thousand of the
population. They preserved for the most part a judicious
silence. The community was fused into a compact and har-
monious mass, instinct with a single purpose — to stand by
the Government and to crush the rebellion at whatever cost.
The Legislature met in special session on the 25th of
April, with full houses and a numerous attendance of lead-
ing ?itizens, outside of its number. The trains which brought
the members to the capital were greeted with a national
salute of thirty-four guns from the two brass field pieces
captured by General Stark at the battle of Bennington.
At the hour Lieutenant Governor Underwood took the chair
of the Senate, and Speaker Hunton that of the House. On
motion of a leading Democrat, Stephen Thomas of West
Fairlee,1 the oath of allegiance to the United States Gov-
1 The political classification of the two Houses was : Senate, Repub-
licans, 29; Democrats, 1;— House, Republicans, 211 ; Democrats, 25. .
The Democrats in the Legislature and in attendance upon the session
held a private meeting the evening before to decide upon their course.
Several were in favor of resisting all war measures from the start. Hon.
Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, told them that would never do. "If the
Republicans propose to raise five regiments'" said he to Mr. Thomas, who
was to be the leader of the Democrats on the floor of the House, " do
you go for raising ten. If they want half a million for troops, do you
move to make it a million." Mr. Thomas's own feeling was in hearty
24 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
ernment was administered to the members, in addition
to the usual oath, which then contained no allusion to the
General Government, and after prayer and the usual pre-
liminaries the two Houses met in joint assembly to hear the
Governor's message. In this Governor Fairbanks announced
that he had already called into the service ten companies of
the Militia to form a regiment in response to the requisition
of the President, and that the Quartermaster General had
procured for them the necessary outfit of overcoats, blankets
and camp equipage. In anticipation of further calls for
troops for the defence of the National Capital, then in immi-
nent peril from an imposing military force, he urged
immediate and efficient action for the organizing of the
militia, and ample appropriations for military purposes.
Within twenty-four hours thereafter a bill appropriating one
million dollars for war expenses, had passed both Houses by
unanimous votes; and in forty-two hours from the time it
met the Legislature had completed its work and adjourned,
having also passed acts providing for the organizing, arming
and equipment of six more regiments (in addition to the one
already called for), for two years service ; giving to each pri-
vate seven dollars a month of State pay, in addition to the
thirteen dollars offered by the Government ; providing for the
relief of the families of volunteers at State expense in cases of
destitution ; committing to the Governor the duty of organiz-
ing the regiments and appointing the field officers thereof;
and laying the first war tax of ten cents on the dollar of the
Grand List. This rapid despatch of business showed the
intense desire of the people for immediate action. In the
appropriation of a million dollars — a much larger sum than
had as yet been voted by any State in proportion to popula-
accord with this advice. Other patriots present supported this view of
their duty, and from that time on there was no distinction of parties in
the Legislature on any war question.
RESPONSE TO THE CALL TO ARMS. 25
' — and in the provisions for recruiting volunteers for two
years, while as yet the Government had called for only three
months' troops, and for adding to the quota called for six
more regiments — which would be Vermont's share of an army
of 600,000 men — the Legislature expressed the general con-
viction of the members that the war was not to be one of
short duration or small dimensions — and in these respects
as well as in the unanimity and stern resolution which char-
acterized all the action and utterances of the session, the
legislature well represented the people of Vermont2. There
were sharp discussions over the size of the war appropria-
tion, and over the question whether the regimental officers
should be elected or appointed, but in these the side which
was for the larger service and most effective organization,
easily carried the day. The unique provision for the families
of the volunteers especially entitles this Legislature to last-
ing honor. Under this, in no case could the needy families
of soldiers in the field be deemed or become town paupers.
If in want they were to be, and in practice thereafter were,
treated as the beneficiaries of the State, and were supplied,
under the care of State agents, with all that they required.
This provision and that for giving State pay to the soldiers,
which eventually took about four millions of dollars from the
1 "Vermont has a population of but about 300,000, mostly farmers, and
yet has made an appropriation of $1,000,000 to aid in maintaining the stars
and stripes. Many have done nobly; but none, resources considered, have
equalled this."— JV. Y. World, April 28, 1861.
2 At the close of one of the sessions of the House on the first day, a
member proposed that the representatives rise and sing "The Star Spangled
Banner." The members rose, but no one could start the tune and they had
to sit down without singing. At the close of the evening session, however,
another effort was made with better success. A choir of twenty-five
singers, each provided with a small national flag, occupied one of the gal-
leries and sang the patriotic anthem with great spirit and much waving of
banners, the members and spectators joining in the refrain with the utmost
enthusiasm.
26 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
State treasury, were without precedent, and had few if any
parallels in other States.
By the energetic efforts of the State officers and of the
patriotic women who assisted in the making of the uniforms
(which were of gray cloth) the first regiment was armed and
equipped in a marvelously short time, considering that every
State was then in the market as a purchaser of arms and
munitions, and that of various essential articles there was a
very scant supply in the country. By the 30th day of April
everything needed was provided, and the companies received
orders to rendezvous at Rutland.
"While the organization and equipment of the First
Regiment was in progress, the informal enrollment of volun-
teers by recruiting officers, self-appointed or selected by the
citizens, had been going on all over the State with great
activity ; ' and before the regiment was mustered into the
United States service the State authorities began prepara-
tions for the organization of two more regiments. Commis-
sions for the recruiting of troops for these were issued by
Governor Fairbanks on the 7th of May ; and within three
days the services of fifty-six full companies were tendered
to the Adjutant-General. Of these only twenty could be
then accepted, but the turn of each and all came in due time.2
1 Charles M. Bliss, then of Woodford, Vermont, claims to have been
the first volunteer who put his name to an agreement to serve for the war.
On the 19th of April, 1861, upon learning of President Lincoln's first call
for troops, Mr. Bliss drew up a paper which he signed and offered to others
to sign, pledging his services as a soldier for the war. Mr. Bliss enlisted
in the Second Regiment, and served till discharged after the Peninsula
campaign, on account of disability resulting from Chickahominy fever.
1 The spirit of these early volunteers may be inferred from incidents
similar to the following, which were occurring all over the State : A young
man working in a saw-mill in Jericho, decided to volunteer. Thereupon,
by working all night he got a free day, in the forenoon of which he rode
twenty miles to Burlington to engage a man to take his place in the mill.
He returned to Jericho in the afternoon and evening ; started his saw at 11
P. M., and sawed all night ; next morning walked five miles to take the
RESPONSE TO THE CALL TO ARMS. 27
Under the act of the Legislature, the regiments sub-
sequent to the First were to be enlisted for two years. Be-
fore any organization under this statute had taken place,
President Lincoln's second call for 42,000 volunteers for three
years was issued. Official notice immediately followed from
Washington, that volunteers could now only be received by
the General Government for three years, or during the war if
it should end in less time. Under these circumstances the
two years' limit fixed by the Yermont act was ignored, and
the second and all subsequent regiments were enlisted for
three years.
train for Burlington ; enlisted in the company forming there, drilled three
hours and took the train back; worked all that night and next day appeared
again in the ranks at Burlington, having worked and ridden three days
and nights with but an hour or two of rest and less of sleep.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST REGIMENT.
Organization of the First Regiment — Sketches of the Field Officers — Camp
Fairbanks — Delays in Mustering in — Off at Last for the War — General
Scott's opinion of the Vermonters — Reception at Troy and in New
York — Voyage to Fortress Monroe— Quarters in the Hygeia Hotel
— Expedition to Hampton— Occupation of Newport News.
The First Regiment of Vermont Volunteers, as lias been
stated, consisted of the Brandon, Middlebury, Rutland,
Northfield, "Woodstock, Bradford, Cavendish, Burlington,
St. Albans, and Swanton companies, of the Militia, desig-
nated by an executive order dated April 27th, 1861. The
commissions of its field and staff officers bore date of the
day previous, April 26th.
The wisdom with which this regiment was officered has
never been questioned. The general desire that it should be
placed under the command of an experienced soldier, was
met by the appointment, as Colonel, of Captain John "W.
Phelps of Brattleboro. A native Vermonter, a graduate of
the United States Military Academy (of the class of 1836),
with a record of twenty-three years of constant and capable
service as Lieutenant and Captain of the Fourth Artillery in
Texas, on the Plains and in Mexico, where he was severely
wounded ; with abilities which caused him to be selected as
one of a commission of three officers, to whom was entrusted
the preparation of the manual for the artillery service of the
United States army, which was in use for many years and
n<?*fy MB Balls Sons.NewYork.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 29
was largely his work ; familiar with and studiously observant
of military discipline and etiquette, Colonel Phelps was
a trained and tried and true soldier.1 His personal char-
acteristics matched well his acquired qualifications. Just,
upright, conscientious, a man who knew no fear, of kind
heart and universal courtesy extended to high and low alike,
observant of every duty as an officer and gentleman, and
requiring strict obedience and faithful service of ail under
him, he came to be looked up to by the officers and men. of
his command as a father. He gave to them in turn the
most fatherly care, and made his regiment not only a model
in drill and good order, but an admirable school of military
training and discipline for the hundreds of its members who
became officers of regiments subsequently organized.
To the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, Captain Peter T. Wash-
burn of Woodstock was appointed. He was a leading lawyer
of the Windsor County bar, with a taste for military life
which had led him to take an active part in the reor-
ganization of the militia of the State, and to accept the
captaincy of the Woodstock company. A man of liberal
education, of precise knowledge, of firm will and of method-
ical industry, he was by nature a strict tactician and dis-
ciplinarian. He had made the Woodstock Light Infantry the
best military company in the State. He carried the same
characteristics into actual service ; and had the condition of
his health permitted him to remain in the army after the
disbandment of the First Kegiment, he would undoubtedly
have won high distinction as a soldier. His subsequent
most faithful, laborious and invaluable services as Adjutant
1 John W. Phelps was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, Fourth
Artillery, July 28, 1836, was promoted First Lieutenant in July, 1838, and
brevetted Captain August 20, 1847, for meritorious and gallant conduct in
the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco. This brevet, the record says,
was "declined." He resigned his commission November 2d, 1859, "from
conscientious scruples."
30 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and Inspector General of the State, and his elevation to
the Governorship, in which office he ended his life, are
known to all Vermonters.
Harry "Worthen, of Bradford, was appointed Major. He
was a young lawyer, had received military training in the
Norwich Military College, and had been the drill master of
the Bradford Guards — one of the best drilled companies in
the regiment.
The line officers were men who had been most active in
keeping up the military arm of the State and among the
first to offer themselves and their commands for the support
of the flag. The rank and file were native Vermonters of
all professions and callings. They were young men — the
average age of the regiment, as shown by the enlistment
papers, being twenty-four years — and of more than the
average stature.1 In character and standing they represented
the patriotism, intelligence and enterprise of the State.
The departures of the companies from their respective
towns were scenes of extraordinary emotion. The occasions
seemed to be for the masses the first full realization of the new
fact of civil war. Public meetings were held in most of the
towns to express approval and encouragement. Long pro-
cessions escorted the companies to the railroad stations, and
they took the trains in the presence of throngs of sober-faced
men and tearful women and children, comprising almost the
entire population. The vision which rose before the sight of
these spectators as their sons, brothers, husbands and towns-
men started for the war, was not of the summer-day experi-
ence of quiet and easy camp-life which was to fall to their lot,
but of mortal conflict and bloodshed, from which few survivors
1 In the Bradford Company were twelve men upwards of six feet in
height, and one of six feet four inches. In the Rutland company, as stated
in the newspapers at the time, were ten. men who when extended on the
ground head to feet measured sixty-seven feet. Each company had a con-
siderable proportion of six-footers.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 31
might return. Yet for most, even in the hour of parting,
as for the soldiers themselves, high patriotic resolution
overcame the sadness and cheers drowned the sobs. At the
way-stations along the routes to Kutland many public
demonstrations took place ; and thus with salutes, speeches,
collations, cheers, prayers, and every mark of pride, sym-
pathy and approval, the troops were bidden farewell and
Godspeed.
The companies were ordered to rendezvous at Rutland
on the 2d of May. Several of them arrived there the even-
ing previous and were quartered for the night in the public
halls and buildings. The rest arrived the next day, when all
went into camp, duly designated as " Camp Fairbanks," on
the Fair ground, a mile south of the village of Eutland.
Colonel Phelps assumed command on the same day. The
first night under canvas gave the men a sudden introduction
to the hardships of a soldier's life. Water froze that night in
the tents. The next night a number of the tents were
prostrated by a high wind accompanied by a cold rain. Most
of the men had yet to learn how to cook and save their
rations ; and for a day or two discomfort enough prevailed-
But under the faithful instructions of Colonel Phelps all
became rapidly initiated, not only into the art of living com-
fortably in camp, but into the mysteries of guard-mounting,
surgeon's call, fatigue service and battalion drill. Within
three days Colonel Phelps reported that his regiment was
equipped and ready to march ; but delays, vexatious and
threatening to be serious, occurred in the mustering of the
regiment into the United States service.
The Secretary of War had designated Burlington as the
place of rendezvous for the regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Gabriel J. Eains, Fifth United States Infantry, had been
despatched thither to inspect and muster in the regiment.
Bains was a North Carolinian. He was at heart a sympa-
thizer with the secessionists, and three months later he threw
32 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
up his commission in the United States army and entered
the Confederate service, in which subsequently he became
chief of the rebel torpedo service. At this time he was an
unhappy man, in doubt how the experiment of secession was
going to turn, undecided as to his future course, but willing
for the present to obey orders from Washington. Citizens
of Burlington who conversed with him after his arrival there,
perceived that his sympathies were with the South, and
became apprehensive lest the regiment should be delayed if
placed under his temporary control as mustering officer.
This fear was communicated to Governor Fairbanks. He
requested Colonel Rains to meet him and Adjutant General
Baxter for consultation, and when this invitation was declined
by Colonel Kains the Governor sent General Baxter to New
York on the 27th of April, to request General Wool to order
the regiment to rendezvous at Rutland, and to go on from
thence without reporting to Colonel Eains. General Wool did
not feel authorized to alter the arrangements of the Secretary
of War, and more than a week's delay occurred in get-
ting matters straightened out. Colonel Bains, obeying the
letter of his orders, remained at Burlington while the troops
he was to muster remained at Rutland ; and not a little con-
cern found public expression, lest the conflict between the
plans of the War Department and of the State authorities
should occasion serious delay in the departure of the regi-
ment.
On the 7th of May, however, Colonel Rains received
orders from Washington to report at Rutland and muster in
the troops there, and on the 8th the regiment was formally
inspected by him and mustered into the United States
service, Hon. D. A. Smalley, United States District Judge,
administering the oath of allegiance to the United States, to
the officers and men. The colors of the regiment — a hand-
some regimental standard and a national flag — were pre-
sented by Governor Fairbanks. Addressing Colonel Phelps
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 33
the Governor said: "In your hands, supported by these
troops, I feel that this flag will never be dishonored, nor the
State of Vermont disgraced." He added, pointing to the
single star on the Yermont flag : " I charge you to remember
that this flag represents but one star in that other flag, which
I now present, bearing the national emblem, the stars and
stripes. Vermont claims no separate nationality. Her citi-
zens, ever loyal to the Union and the Constitution, will rally
in their strength for the preservation of the National Govern-
ment and the honor of our country's flag." Colonel Phelps,
who was a man of few words, responded briefly, accepting
the colors "as emblems, the one of the Constitution and the
laws we are going to defend, and the other of the allegiance
and loyalty of the 'star that never sets," and pledging the
highest endeavors of the regiment to retain them in a way
that should meet the approval of the freemen of Vermont.
The marching orders of the regiment came that day by the
hand of a special messenger from Washington, having been
expedited in a way worthy of mention. The fact that the
regiment was ready for service had been announced to the
War Department several days previous by the Governor
through Colonel William B0 Hatch, Deputy Quartermaster
of the State. It was the opinion of U. S. Adjutant General
Townsend at the time, that troops enough had been ordered
forward for the existing emergency, and that it would be
well to hold the Vermont regiment in Vermont for a while.
When General Scott, however, learned that a regiment of
Green Mountain Boys, commanded by Colonel Phelps, whom
he had known in the Mexican war, was awaiting orders, he at
once declared that Colonel Phelps was the man and his
regiment the troops that he wanted for responsible duty.
" I want your Vermont regiments," said he, "all of them. I
have not forgotten the Vermont men on the Niagara frontier.
No," said he musingly, as his mind traveled back over almost
half a century and his eye lighted up with the glorious
34 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
memories of those days, "I rem.em'ber the Vermont men in
the war of 1812." '
General Scott's plan of operations was to use the three
months troops simply for the defence of AYashington — and
as essential to that to garrison Fortress Monroe with reliable
troops — and for the protection of the Potomac and the rail-
road lines from Washington to the north and west ; leaving
all offensive operations for the new army of three years men,
the formation of which had already been decided on. He
wanted Colonel Phelps and his regiment for the garrison of
Fortress Monroe, and thither they were ordered, as follows :
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES ARMY, )
WASHINGTON, May 6, 1861. f
His Excellency the Governor of Vermont :
SIR,— Lieutenant General Scott lias just received the agreeable informa-
tion that you have a fine regiment, under Colonel Phelps, ready for
immediate service. The General being exceedingly pressed with business
commands me to request your Excellency to send the regiment with as little
delay as practicable, by water, to Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Virginia.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully
Your obedient servant,
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant General.
The regiment left Rutland in a train of twenty cars at
9 o'clock on the morning of the 9th of May. In Troy, N. Y.,
it was received by the "citizens corps," a local military
organization, and a large concourse of citizens, and was
addressed in brief speeches by the veteran General John E.
Wool and by Hon. John A. Griswold. The regiment arrived
in New York next morning and marched from the Hudson
River Railroad station down Fifth Avenue and Broadway to
the City Park, through streets crowded with citizens, who
received the Vermonters with much cheering and every mark
of admiration and approval. The effective appearance of
the regiment in its gray uniform, (each man bearing in his
1 Washington Letter to the Burlington Free Press.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 35
cap an evergreen sprig, badge of the Green Hills), and the
unusual size of the men composing it, were matters for
especial remark on the part of the press and the people of
both cities.1
The sons of Vermont residing in New York, proud to
see the State so creditably represented by her first volunteers,
neglected nothing which could contribute to the comfort of
the soldiers while passing through that city. The regiment
was quartered for the day in newly erected barracks in
the City Park, and the officers of the regiment were enter-
tained at the Astor House by Mr. Stetson, its patriotic host.
The men were allowed full liberty in the city and they did
1 The Troy Times said of the regiment : ' ' The strong, sturdy looks of
the men, their ability to withstand hardships, and the entire absence of
small men from the ranks, were observed by all. By general acclaim the
regiment was pronounced to be the finest ever seen in this section of
country. * * Each man bore himself like a true soldier and gentleman.
* * * We understand that there are one hundred graduates of colleges
in the ranks, besides many men of large business interests and wealth in
the State."
The Troy Whig said : ' ' Certainly so complete a body of soldiers was
never before seen in Troy. There was not a weak, irresolute or apparently
dissipated man in the ranks."
The Albany Atlas and Argus said : " They are by far the finest troops
we have yet seen among the volunteers from any State."
The New York Herald said : ' ' To say that every man of the First
Regiment of Vermont Light Infantry is the exact type of a soldier, is
nothing more than is justly due them. They are slashing, dashing,
brawny, well-knit fellows with deep determination stamped in every linea-
ment of their countenances."
The New York World said: "Physically its members nobly maintain
the renown of their native State for the production of stalwart men. Few
are less than five feet ten inches in height, very many more than six feet,
and all are capable of any amount of endurance. But the crowning glory
of the regiment is its moral power. It has no mere machines. Its men are
men. * * There can be no fears as to the account such volunteers will
render of themselves. "
" The exclamation of a dapper New Yorker of Jewish persuasion and
Dutch extraction, as he gazed at the Goliaths of the Green Mountains
36 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
not abuse it ; and when the time for leaving came but one
man was missing from the ranks. In other regiments, in
after days, recruits were as carefully guarded while passing
through New York as if they had been prisoners of war.
At 1 o'clock in the afternoon of the llth of May, the
regiment formed line on Broadway and marched to the
Steamer Alabama, which was to convey them to Fortress
Monroe. The steamer was so crowded that four companies
had to be stowed in the hold ; and the voyage was one of much
discomfort to the sea-sick soldiers. At daylight on the 13th
of May, the heavy bastions and massive walls of Fortress
expressed the astonishment of the crowd: 'Father Abraham, ain't them
boomers !' Colonel Phelps at the head of the regiment, tall and of massive
form, with an immense army hat and black ostrich plume, drew the
inquiry: ' Who is that big Vermont Colonel?' The prompt answer was:
' That ? Oh, that is old Ethan Allen resurrected.' " — Address of Governor
Farnham, at Bradford, May 2d, 1881.
The New York Sun said: "It is an interesting study to move about
among those groups of stalwart, kingly, yet modest men — every mother's
son every inch a man. More formidable troops 1 ought not with Allen, or
Stark, or Cromwell. * * They are of the Cromwellian sort, who ' make
some conscience of what they do.' But one profane oath reached our ears
in several hours spent among them."
The New York Times of May 13th, 1861, mentioned the following
incident of the passage of the regiment through that city : " A tall, splendid
looking man, dressed in the uniform of the Allen Grays, Vermont, stood
conversing with a friend on Broadway. He was entirely unconscious that
his superior height was attracting universal attention until a barouche
drove up to the sidewalk, and a young man sprang from it and grasped his
hand, saying : « You are the most splendid specimen of humanity 1 ever
met. I am a Southerner, but my heart is with the Union, if it were not,
such splendid fellows as yourself would enlist me in the cause.' The sub-
ject of the remark, though surprised, was perfectly self-possessed, and
answered the cordial greeting of the young Southerner with enthusiasm.
He was several inches above six feet and his open countenance beamed
with the ancient patriotism of the Green Mountain Boys. He had to walk
fifteen miles from the village of Chittenden to enlist ; but he was a host in
himself.1
Other journals spoke in terms of hardly less praise. And such things
as these were by no means said of every regiment that passed through
New York in those days.
THE FIKST REGIMENT. 37
Monroe came in sight, and during the day the regiment
landed and went into camp on a small triangular plot on the
north side of the fortress between the outer wall and the moat.
The garrison of the fortress at this time consisted of
iour companies of the Third and Fourth regiments U. S.
Heavy Artillery, and two small Massachusetts regiments
which had been there for several days — the Third Massa-
chusetts, Colonel Wardrop,1 and the Fourth Massachusetts,
Colonel Packard. The fortress was under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Justin Dimick, Second U. S. Artillery,
a native Vermonter. The regiment arrived at a somewhat
critical period, and was a welcome addition to the garrison.3
Norfolk had been evacuated the day before, after immense
and needless destruction of federal ships and munitions of
war, and the region outside of the little peninsula on which
the fortress stood had been abandoned to the enemy. Sup-
plies came quite irregularly from Baltimore by water. Four
days after its arrival the regiment left its narrow camp-
ground within the fortress, and took quarters in the Hygeia
Hotel — a large hotel which had been before the war, as since,
a popular health and pleasure resort. It afforded ample ac-
commodations for the entire regiment.
The regiment remained here three weeks, the men de-
voting their energies to company and battalion drill, with
variations of fatigue duty in mounting heavy guns on the
fortress, for which service a company was detailed daily.
Among the few incidents worthy of mention in this period
1 The officer who brought Governor Andrew's message to Governor
Fairbanks in January.
2 An officer of one of the Massachusetts regiments in a letter to the
Boston Traveller, dated at Fortress Monroe, May 14th, said: " The Ver-
mont regiment which arrived yesterday are encamped in sugar loaf tents,
numbering 86, outside of the main parapet, but within the outer inclosure,
and their encampment looks finely. This evening they paraded. Their
gray uniforms gave them a handsome appearance, and our more motley
troops, some wearing uniforms and the larger part wearing shirts, did not
enjoy the contrast."
38 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was the death of private Benjamin Underwood of Bradford,
who was the first Vermont volunteer to give his life for his
country.1
On the 22d of May, General Butler arrived and assumed
command at Fortress Monroe, and on the next day directed
Colonel Phelps to make a reconnoissance to the village of
Hampton, three miles from the fortress. Hampton had been
a place of about a thousand inhabitants, but its population
was now reduced to less than two hundred by the departure
of secessionists who found the proximity of the national
forces unpleasant. It was reached by a wooden bridge cros-
sing the Hampton River. As the regiment approached the
bridge a smoke was discovered to be rising from the centre
span. Understanding what this meant, Colonel Phelps or-
dered forward the advance guard — a platoon of the Swanton
company under Captain Clark — at double quick, leading them
himself. Dashing upon the bridge they found the flames
rising from a pile of straw in the centre, over which a barrel
of pitch had been poured. In a moment longer the bridge
would have been impassable; but the blazing planks were
quickly torn up and thrown with their load of combustibles
into the river. The opening was bridged with other planks-
and the regiment marched over. At the end of the bridge a
gun carnage was standing, from which a six pound field-
piece had just been thrown, and the Confederates who had
made these preparations for defence were seen making a
hasty exit from the village, having thrown their gun into
the river and retreated without firing a shot. The regiment
marched into the village, finding very few white inhab-
itants and but two soldiers, a major and lieutenant,* who-
%
1 He died of measles on the 20th of May, and was buried in a burying-
ground a mile from the fort, two companies of the First Vermont, under
Lieutenant Colonel Washburn, acting as a guard to the burial party.
9 An indication of the mild manner in which war was conducted at this
stage of hostilities is found in the fact that this major, one J. B. Gary,
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 39
inquired the purpose of the expedition and were informed
by Colonel Phelps that it was a reconnoissance and that the
village would not be harmed if his command was not
molested. This warning was wisely heeded. After a short
stay in the main street of Hampton the regiment returned ta
its quarters, accompanied by a number of negroes who em-
braced this opportunity to escape from slavery. They were
anxious to know what would be done with them, and were
informed by Colonel Phelps that he should do nothing with
them, and that they could come and go as they pleased.
This was among the first (if not indeed the first) instances
of emancipation as an act and consequence of the war. Slaves
were frequently returned to their owners by other officers of
volunteers and of the regular army ; but it is worthy of note
that from the first the fugitives who sought the protection
of Vermont troops were safe. Two days after the recon-
noisance to Hampton, the Major Gary above alluded to,
made his appearance at Fortress Monroe, under a flag of
truce, to ask for the return of three colored men, the slaves
of a Colonel Mallory, residing near Hampton. It was in
response to this demand that General Butler rendered his
famous decision, which gave the name of "contrabands" to
fugitive slaves from that time on. Major Cary was in-
formed by General Butler that he considered the fugitives
" contraband of war," and had set them at work within the
fortress.
On the 25th of May the regiment left its quarters in the
hotel, which was thenceforth to be occupied as a hospital,
and was ordered into camp on Mr. Segar's farm, about a mile
commanding a detachment of Virginia volunteers, and his lieutenant,
both found in rebel uniform, were not taken prisoners, but were left in
Hampton, whence that evening Major Cary reported the transaction to
his superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ewell, commanding at Williams-
burg. In his report Cary says that his battalion numbered 130 men, and
that he ordered them back to the village on the retirement of the U. 8.
troops.
40 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
outside the fort, together with the Second New York Regi-
ment, Colonel Carr, and the Fifth New York, Colonel Duryea,
which had just arrived. The regiments were twice aroused
during the first night by the long-roll sounded from the other
regiments, and showed noticeable steadiness under the false
alarms.
Two days later, May 27th, the First Yermont made what
was called by the New York Tribune at the time, the " first
permanent occupation of the sacred soil of Virginia," though
it was not strictly the first, Alexandria having been occupied
three days previous. The regiment, with forty rounds of
ammunition and two days rations, was moved by transport,
Colonel Phelps leading the way on the gunboat Monticello
with the Middlebury and Rutland companies as an advance
guard, to Newport News, at the mouth of James River, about
ten miles from Fortress Monroe. Here was a settlement
containing a store, two wharves and two or three houses, on
a bluff about thirty feet high, back of which extended a
plain covered with growing wheat, skirted by woods and an
extensive swamp. This pleasant spot was the station of the
regiment for the remainder of its stay in Virginia. Colonel
Phelps landed and arrested the few men found there, and was
followed by the regiment. The Fourth Massachusetts Regi-
ment, Colonel Packard, and the Seventh New York, Colonel
Bendix, followed, and all slept that night in the open air or
under rude shelters of fence rails. Next day tents and in-
trenching tools arrived; and lines for a strong intrenched
camp were laid out by an officer of engineers. The works
were 1,800 feet long, extending from the river shore round to
the shore again, enclosing a spacious camp.1 Each company
was required to construct the intrenchment opposite its front.
1 The rampart was subsequently raised to seven feet ; the ditch widened
and deepened to seven feet in depth and ten in width; and an abbatis
or row of pickets added. Four brass field pieces were placed in the
angles on the land side ; and on the water front a battery of 8-inch
columbiads was planted.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 41
The portion assigned to the Vermont troops was first com-
pleted, and they built a portion of the works for the other
regiments.
Colonel Phelps was placed by General Butler in com-
mand of the Post, designated as "Camp Butler," and the
command of the First Yermont devolved, from this time on,
upon Lieutenant Colonel Washburn. The intrenchments
completed, the men resumed drill and maintained the usual
routine of camp life, varied only by frequent scouting ex-
peditions. The parties commonly consisted of from two to
four companies, and were sent out in various directions into
the surrounding country. One consequence of such occupa-
tion of the lower part of the Peninsula, was the abandonment
of their homes by the larger part of the inhabitants. A
few remained, claiming, when in the presence of the Union
troops, to be loyal to the Government, and acting as rebel
scouts and spies the rest of the time. Another result was
the escape from their masters of numerous contrabands who
sought the protection of the Federal camps. Before the 1st
of June, General Butler, in a letter to General Scott, esti-
mated the "money value in good times" of the fugitives
within his lines, to their masters, to be not less than $60,000,
subsequently largely increased.
On the 1st of June, Lieutenant Roswell Farnham, of the
Bradford Company, was appointed Provost Marshal of the
Post ; and it was made his duty to look after the contra-
bands. They came in commonly at night, bringing, in many
cases, their families and portable property. All were ani-
mated by a common hatred of their late masters, and by a
common faith in God and his purpose to break the bonds
of their race. All had implicit confidence in the Union
soldiers, in spite of the assertions of their owners that the
Yankees would kill them if they went to them. Such as
could find employment as camp servants were allowed to
remain in camp. The rest were sent to Fortress Monroe
42 VERMONT IN THE CIYTL WAR.
to the number of thirty or forty a day. Under the strict
discipline of Lieutenant Colonel Washburn, the camp of the
Yermont troops was a model of cleanliness and good order,
and the regiment an example of attention to duty, and of
freedom from the habits of rowdyism and pilfering which
characterized too many of the troops.
Nothing more exciting than the exchange of a few shots
between the U. S. cutter Harriet Lane, and a rebel battery
on Sewell's Point, on the opposite shore of the James, took
place during the first ten days of June. The quiet of the
situation was then effectually broken by the unfortunate
affair of Big Bethel.
THE BATTLE OF BIG BETHEL.
The engagement at Big Bethel was the first action of
the war of consequence enough to be dignified with the
name of a battle.; the first assault by Union infantry upon
rebel entrenchments; and the first experience of Yermont
volunteers under fire. As such, and as an affair concerning
which many incorrect accounts have been printed, it claims
a space in this history out of all proportion to its dimensions
or results.
The situation on the Peninsula, on the 8th of June,
1861, was as follows :
The troops under the command of General Butler, at
Fortress Monroe and Newport News, had been augmented to
an aggregate of about twelve thousand men. At Yorktown,
twenty-two miles north, was a Confederate force, several
thousand strong, under the command of General Benjamin
Huger, late of the United States army. Scouting and
foraging parties from both armies had ranged through the
region between these points, with little molestation. Twelve
miles South of Yorktown, at a point where the "County
road" — the main road between Yorktown and Hampton —
crossed the Northwest branch of Back Kiver, was a hamlet
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 43
and church, known to the Confederate historians as Bethel
Church, and to the Union historians as Big Bethel. This
point was occupied on the 6th of June, by the First North
Carolina Regiment, Colonel D. H. Hill, late of the U. S.
Army, and a portion of Randolph's Howitzer Battalion1
with three howitzers and a rifled gun ; to which was added a
day or two later the rest of Randolph's Battalion with a
Parrott gun and two howitzers, constituting a force of some-
thing over a thousand men with seven pieces of artillery.
Hill fortified the position by constructing an enclosed earth-
work and outlying curtains and rifle pits, the strength of
which was increased by the natural features of the ground.
The creek, or "branch," running through a morass in an
irregular semicircle, protected the front and flanks of the
works. The redoubt commanded the bridge over the creek
in its front ; and Randolph's guns swept the road and the
approaches to the bridge.
Three miles or more south of Big Bethel, and between
seven and eight miles from Newport News, was a small
wooden meeting house, known as Little Bethel, which had
been often occupied by the rebel foragers and cavalry, who
were impressing inhabitants of the region into the Confede-
rate service, and taking their slaves to work on the intrench-
ments at Yorktown and Williamsburg. Desiring to put a stop
to these proceedings, and understanding that a rebel outpost
of some three hundred men and two field pieces had been
established at Little Bethel, General Butler directed Major
Theodore Winthrop, a volunteer aid on his staff and his
military secretary, to obtain all available information con-
cerning the situation at the two Bethels, and prepare a
plan for an expedition against one or both of them. This
he did,2 and it was adopted, with slight modification, by
1 A Virginia battery.
2 The original minutes of this plan, in Winthrop's hand writing, were
found among his effects after his death.
44 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
General Butler. That the information obtained by Major
Winthrop was not very accurate, may be inferred from the
facts, that on the chart, copies of which were supplied to the
officers in command of the expedition, Big Bethel was
located on the South, instead of on the North side of the
creek, and that one item of his memorandum was to "blow
up the Bethels, if brick." The chief features of the plan
were a night expedition, in two columns — one to march from
Hampton to the rear of Little Bethel, and the other from
Newport News to make a direct attack at day break on
Little Bethel. Having captured the force supposed to be
there, the two columns were to unite, and, supported by
other regiments which were to march at a later hour, were to
push on to Big Bethel and assault the Confederate camp
there. To prevent collisions between friends during the
night march, the men of the supports were to wear " some-
thing white" on the left arm, and before any order to fire,
the watchword "Boston" was to be shouted.
On the other side, Colonel J. B. Magruder, late of the
United States Army, arrived at Big Bethel June 8th, and
took command of the Confederate force there. He was
reinforced on the morning of the 10th, by two Virginia bat-
talions, each of three companies, under Major E. B. Montague,
and Lieutenant Colonel Stuart. He had also three com-
panies of " dragoons," making an aggregate of about fifteen
hundred men.1
On Sunday evening, June 9th, under General Butler's
orders, issued to Brigadier General E. "W. Pierce of Massa-
chusetts, in command of Camp Hamilton near Fortress
Monroe, and to Colonel Phelps, the Fifth New York, better
known as " Duryea's Zouaves," was ferried across the
Hampton Eiver and marched from Hampton at twenty
1 Colonel D. H. Hill, in his report, places the number at "about twelve
hundred;" but the aggregate of the numbers mentioned in his own and
other Confederate reports, exceeds that number by over two hundred.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 45
minutes past midnight on the morning of the 10th. Duryea
was directed to march out by the County road towards
Little Bethel and then to move by by-roads to the rear
of that point. As there was no by-road available for such a
movement, the latter direction could not be obeyed. He
marched out to New Market Bridge, across the Southwest
Branch of Back Kiver, and leaving there a guard pushed on
in the small hours of the morning by the County road
towards Little Bethel. A little before 1 o'clock, A. M., Lieu-
tenant Colonel Washburn started from Newport News with
a battalion of five companies of the First Vermont and five
companies of the Fourth Massachusetts. The Vermont com-
panies were the Woodstock company, Captain W. "W. Pelton ;
the Bradford company, Captain D. K. Andross ; the NortH-
ficld company, Captain "W. H. Boynton; the Burlington
company, Captain D. B. Peck ; and the Eutland company.
Captain W0 Y. W. Eipley, numbering 272 rank and file. The
battalion numbered 510 muskets. Two colored guides
led the way in charge of Lieutenant Eoswell Farnham,i
who, though on detached duty, had made special request to
accompany the expedition. Washburn was followed by a
detachment of three companies of the Seventh New York
(a German regiment), Colonel Bendix, with two brass field
pieces — one twelve pounder drawn by mules, and one six
pounder drawn by hand. Lieutenant John T. Greble, Second
U. S. Heavy Artillery, with a squad of eleven regular artil-
lerists, accompanied the detachment to serve the guns. The
second column marched quietly and rapidly, reaching the
junction of the road from Newport News with the County
road, about a mile beyond New Market Bridge, shortly after
Duryea's Zouaves had passed that point. At the junction
Bendix was left with his detachment and the smaller field
piece, to guard the rear.
1 Afterwards Lieutenant Colonel of the Twelfth Vermont Regiment and
Governor of Vermont, 1880-82.
4:6 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
An hour and a half after Duryea left Hampton, General
Pierce marched from the same point with the Third New
York regiment, Colonel Townsend, and an artillery company
belonging to the Second New York Regiment with two field
pieces. This force reached the junction of the roads shortly
before daybreak, just as Bendix was taking position there.
Bendix's force was seen by General Pierce and Colonel
Townsend in the dim light; and taking it as a matter of
course to be a part of the expedition they marched steadily
on. Not so Bendix. Seeing the mounted men of General
Pierce's staff at the head of the column, he took them and
the shadowy mass behind to be a body of rebel cavalry,
and opened on them at once with both musketry and
artillery.1 Twenty-one men of the Third New York fell by
this fire, two being killed, and four officers and fifteen men
wounded. Townsend's men, astonished by this reception,
broke right and left from the road, down which Bendix wras
firing canister, into the fields, and thence returned for a few
moments a scattering and ineffective fire. They soon
regained some sort of formation, and were then withdrawn
by General Pierce across New Market Bridge. They halted
on the higher ground on the south side of the Branch,3 and
General Pierce, not doubting that they had encountered a
considerable force of the enemy, despatched an aid to
Hampton for reinforcements.
When Bendix's unlucky and noisy blunder woke the
early morning echoes, Duryea had reached Little Bethel,
finding no enemy there, and his skirmishers, under Captain
Judson Kilpatrick, had captured a picket post consisting of
1 Colonel Bendix in his report says he gave no word to fire; but that
his men probably fired first, as they were "not expecting friends from that
quartero" General Butler says that the evidence is strong that Bendix
gave the order to fire.
2 General Pierce says in his report that this retrograde movement was
intended " to draw the supposed enemy from their position."
THE FIRST BEGIMENT. 47
an officer and two or three men, within a mile or two of
Big Bethel.1 Washburn was about a mile behind Duryea.
Each at once halted, and as the firing behind them kept up,
supposing that their supports were attacked, each hurried
back at double quick to their assistance. When Washburn
reached the scene of action, the smoke still hung over the
fields though the firing had ceased. Washburn marched
past Bendix and formed his battalion between him and the
supposed enemy. He placed a gun in the road, supported
by two companies, sent a company of Massachusetts rifle-
men into the woods on his left, and formed the rest of his
force in the open field and across the road. As daylight
broke, Townsend's regiment was discovered across the river ;
and beginning to surmise that it might be a friendly force,
Washburn ordered his men to shout " Boston." Keceiving
no response he advanced his line, and was fired upon by
one of Townsend's howitzers, without damage. About this
time some haversacks marked with the number and initials
of the Third New York, were picked up by some of the
Vermonters, and the further discovery that a house near by
contained nine wounded and dying men of that regiment left
no longer a doubt that it had been a fight between friends.
The intelligence was soon conveyed by Washburn's skir-
mishers to Townsend's men. Duryea arrived about this
1 It was supposed at the time that the Confederate outpost at Little
Bethel had retreated to Big Bethel ; but the fact appears to be that there
was no enemy at Little Bethel that night. None of the Confederate reports
allude to any outpost at Little Bethel ; and the only Confederate force South
of Big Bethel that night seems to have been a scouting party of two com-
panics of cavalry and one of infantry under command of a Captain Werth,
who states that he was at New Market Bridge, at 5 o'clock Sunday after-
noon ; that with his glass he saw two forces, one from Hampton and one
from Newport News, approach and fire into each other, near the Bridge
and that ' ' at dusk'5 he took up his march for Bethel Church, the enemy
following hinio It is difficult to make these statements match the facts, as
regards the times of day.
48 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
time, and daylight having now fully come, the mistake and
the situation became clear to all.
Gen. Pierce now assumed chief command, and called a
consultation. Colonels Washburn and Duryea advised a
return to camp. They felt that the affair had made a bad
start, and that no surprise of the enemy was now possible.
They thought it probable that the force at Big Bethel would
be either withdrawn or heavily reinforced from Yorktown ;
and that with the failure of the movement against Little
Bethel the expedition was properly at an end. Gen. Pierce,
however, insisted that his orders required that a demonstra-
tion be made against Big Bethel and accordingly ordered
an advance to that point. Meantime the men had break-
fasted, and at 7 o'clock the column again moved to the front,
the Zouaves, as before, leading the advance. A short halt
was made at Little Bethel, where, in obedience to instruc-
tions, the meeting house was burned. Between 8 and 9
o'clock, the column halted again, in sight of the Confederate
works at Big Bethel.
It is to be noted that thus far on each side there was ex-
treme ignorance of the strength of the opposing forces. At
3 o'clock that morning word, sent by a resident of Hampton,
reached Magruder that a considerable federal force had
marched out from Camp Hamilton. Probably supposing
that it was a reconnoisance, and hoping to surprise and cut
it off, Magruder immediately marched out to meet it, with
six hundred men of the First North Carolina regiment and
two howitzers. He had gone nearly to Little Bethel, when
-\is scouts brought him such intelligence of the numbers of
the Federals that he thought best to fall back in haste to his
earthworks. Here he awaited attack. Stuart's and Monta-
gue's battalions, which had just arrived from Yorktown, were
posted so as to extend his line to his right, and had time to
erect temporary breastworks, facing a ravine in their front.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 49
A howitzer was placed in front, across the creek, in the road,
supported by a single company.
On the other side Gen. Pierce had obtained from women
in the farm houses and from contrabands, information that
there was a force at Big Bethel, placed by the lowest estimate
at four thousand, and by the highest at over twenty thousand.
A reconnoissance by Captain Kilpatrick, commanding the
advance guard of Duryea's regiment, brought him almost
equally incorrect intelligence. Kilpatrick reported that
he had " found the enemy with about from three thousand
to five thousand men, posted in a strong position on the
opposite side of the bridge, three earthworks, and a masked
battery on the right and left, in advance of the stream thirty
pieces of artillery and a large force of cavalry." 1
General Pierce was much excited by these reports and
was indiscreet enough to allow his trepidation to become ap-
parent to all about him. He announced loudly that his
scouts had brought him word that " the enemy had twenty
guns in battery," dispatched an aid to Fortress Monroe for
reinforcements, post haste, and gave other orders which indi-
cated to all within hearing that he considered his command
engaged in a desperate undertaking.
These enormously exaggerated reports of the enemy's
force, spreading rapidly through the ranks, were of course not
cheering to the members of a force which numbered less
than two thousand men, with four field pieces. The men,
morever, were exceedingly weary. As unused to marching
as to fighting, they had marched and countermarched for
ten hours. Their ardor had been dampened by the unfor-
tunate encounter of the night ; and they were now to attack
intrenchments, under a General whom all knew to be as in-
experienced as themselves, and whose present nervousness
was painfully obvious. It is not surprising that most of
1 Report of Captain Judson Kilpatrick. Vol. 2 of U. S. Official Records.
50 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
tliem were willing to keep pretty closely under shelter of
the woods, which skirted the road on either side, and at
some points extended up to the marsh in front.
The assault opened a little after 9 o'clock, and a desul-
tory engagement of about four hours' duration followed.
The four field pieces were taken to the front and stationed
in the road leading to the bridge, and were subsequently
advanced to within two hundred yards of the enemy's main
work. They maintained, under the direction of Lieutenant
Greble, a spirited fire, as long as their ammunition lasted.
Duryea's regiment was first stationed in the woods on the
right of the road and was then moved to the open ground on
the left of the road. Two companies of the First Yermont,
(Captain Eipley's and Captain Peck's) were detached from
Washburn's battalion, and sent into the woods on the left
of Duryea, to protect his flank. They were shelled by the
enemy; but suffered no loss and did no firing. Duryea
made several advances towards the works in front ; but w^as
prevented from charging them by the creek, which was sup-
posed to be non-fordable, and contented himself with main-
taining an ineffective musketry fire. He had six men killed
and thirteen wounded — the largest loss sustained by any
regiment from the enemy's fire.
Townsend was sent to the left of Duryea, with directions
to advance upon, and if practicable, assault the right of the
enemy's position. The movement was destined to failure, for
the creek was considerably wider at that point than below,
and he could not have reached the rear of the enemy's right,
except by a long detour. It reached a sudden termination,
by a blunder similar to that of Bendix the night before,
though less excusable because made in broad day light. As
his regiment, in line of battle, was closing up on his skirmish-
ers, his left company became separated from the line by a
farm ditch, skirted by a line of bushes. Seeing the bayonets
of the company over the bushes, Townsend took them for a
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 51
hostile force on his flank, and hastily marched his regiment
back to his former position.
The final and really the only formidable assault on the
works was made by Colonel Washburn. Shortly before
noon, he was directed by General Pierce to take his battalion
round through the woods to his right and attack the left of
the enemy's works. His command had been lessened nearly
one half by the detaching of companies to act as skirmishers
in other parts of the field, and consisted of six companies,
mustering less than 300 muskets. With these he marched
for some distance through a piece of tangled woods, twice
coming out to the open ground in sight of the enemy's bat-
teries, only to find that a further detour was necessary in
order to bring him fairly on their left. Reaching finally a
point from which he thought the works could be approached,
he found a dry ditch, dug for a drain, leading towards the
creek. Through this he took his men for some distance.
Then, leaving this cover, lie pushed straight across the
marsh bordering the creek, leading the column himself, the
men shouting : " Follow the Colonel !" The creek was found
to be a dark and apparently deep stream ; but the men took
it without hesitation, and found it fordable. Holding up
their cartridge boxes from the water, there about waist deep,
they went through it, and straight forward across the open
marsh beyond till Washburn found before him a wooded
ridge ten or twelve feet high, under the cover of which
he deployed his command. Thus far not a shot had been
fired at them, awl their approach was apparently unobserved
by the enemy.1
1 Colonel D. H. Hill in his report says: " Those in advance [of the
Federal column] had put on our distinctive badge of a white band round
the cap, and cried out repeatedly, * don't fire.' This ruse was practiced to
enable the whole column to get over the creek and form hi good order."
This was »ot so. The men wore no white bands, and if any one said,
" don't fire," it was some officer restraining his own men till they should
ft Vbe order to fire.
52 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
A brief examination, made by Captain Pelton from the
top of the ridge, disclosed the enemy's works in full view,
perhaps ten rods distant, rifle pits and parapet being thickly
lined with troops. Washburn at once ordered his command
to the top of the bank, and announced his presence by a fire of
musketry, so sharp and continuous that for twenty minutes
hardly a man of the enemy ventured to show his head above
the breastworks. The reports of the Confederate officers
show that the entire loss received on their side during the
battle — stated by them to have been but one man killed,
nine wounded, and eight artillery horses killed or disabled —
was from this fire.
After the firing began, about sixty of Bendix's Germans
joined Washburn's line. With this exception, no supports
were sent to him, although General Pierce had now been
reinforced by the First New York Regiment, Colonel Allen,
which had been sent up from Hampton by General Butler.
Morever the demonstrations against the enemy's front and
right, instead of being more vigorously pushed, now
wholly ceased. General Magruder was thus enabled to
strengthen his left by troops and guns brought from other
parts of his lines ; and soon in addition to the thickening
patter of bullets, shell and grape began to rattle through the
trees above the heads of Washburn's men. About this time
a bugle across the creek sounded a retreat, and Washburn
ordered his men to cease firing. He perceived that not a
musket was being fired in any other part of the field, and
that the attack had apparently ended, so far as any command
but his own was concerned. Obeying the recall, he with-
drew his command. He retired slowly across the low ground,
re-forded the creek, halted in the woods to collect the
stragglers, and then marched back to his first position on
the left of the main road, to find that a general retreat had
been ordered. The Zouaves were already out of sight,
and Townsend's regiment was following them on the double
BATTLE OF BIG BETHEL.
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THE FIRST REGIMENT. 53
quick. Eeporting to General Pierce for orders, Colonel
Washburn was informed that the attempt to take Big Bethel
was abandoned ; and that the Second New York Kegiment,
which had just arrived from Hampton, would cover the
rear. Colonel Washburn waited till the wounded men had
been placed in wagons' and taken off, and till the artillery
had been withdrawn; and then, in good order, and with
every man of his command in the ranks, except six, two
of whom were killed1, three wounded and one missing,
took his place in the retiring column.
The march up to Big Bethel, in the cool of the night
and morning, in the excitement of a first march into battle,
and in the confidence of victory, had been a not unpleasant
experience. The return, in the dust and heat of a Southern
summer day, in the exhaustion of hunger and the depression
of defeat, was a different thing. The weary tramp of twelve
miles was relieved only by the thoughtfulness of Colonel
Phelps, who sent out wagons loaded with hard bread and
smoked herring to meet the hungry troops. The regiments
reached their quarters at Newport News and Camp Hamil-
ton, about six o'clock, tired, footsore and disgusted, the Ver-
mont and Massachusetts companies, however, feeling that
none of the mistakes of the expedition were to be laid at
their door or that of their immediate commander.
A few incidents of this affair are worthy of mention.
Soon after Washburn's battalion opened fire on the enemy's
left, a stranger joined the ranks of the Northfield company,
and taking a musket from a soldier, began firing rapidly.
When the order to cease firing came, he stepped forward, as
did others, on the top of the bank, to give the enemy a
parting shot. As he fired, a ball struck him in the left
breast. Privates D. E. Boyden and John M. Stone of the
Northfield Company caught him as he fell and bore him to
1 The killed were not Vermonters.
54 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the foot of the ridge, when he expired without word or groan.
Boyden and Stone opened his blouse, discovered from his
uniform that he was an officer and then followed their
company across the creek. The next day an order read at
dress parade announced that Major Theodore Winthrop,
of General Butler's staff, was missing, and called for
information concerning him. The description thereupon
given by Boyden and Stone of the man who expired in
their arms, left no doubt that it was Winthrop. A flag
of truce sent by General Butler to Big Bethel next day
learned that Winthrop's body had been buried where he fell.1
It was subsequently disinterred and restored to his friends.
When the Woodstock Company started back across the
creek, Private Eeuben M. Parker, seeing Winthrop's body
and supposing it to be that of a wounded man, returned to
assist him. While thus separated from the battalion, he was
surrounded and captured by a squad of the enemy. He was
taken to Yorktown and thence to Richmond, where ten days
later he was exchanged and rejoined his company. He
always claimed that he was the first prisoner formally ex-
changed in the war. His observations while within the rebel
works at Big Bethel, satisfied him that the enemy's loss was
considerably larger than was reported or ever acknowledged
by them.
The loss of Lieutenant Greble was only less mourned
than that of Winthrop. He was killed by a piece of a
shrapnell shell, fired at the last discharge but one from the
redoubt, which struck him in the head, taking off part of the
skull. Two artillerists were killed by the same shell.
As the Yermont companies halted near Little Bethel in
the early morning, a man stepped out of a house near the
road and fired upon the column with a rifle, the ball passing
1 Various conflicting accounts of Major Winthrop's death have been
given. This account is derived from Mr. Boyden, whose intelligence and
accuracy are undoubted.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 55
through the clothes of Sergeant Sweet, of the Woodstock
company. A squad rushed for the bushwhacker and he was
speedily captured, and Lieutenant Hiram Stevens, the tall
Adjutant of the First Vermont, who had accompanied the
battalion, administered to him on the spot the rather
unmilitary punishment of a kicking. He proved to be an
officer of a Virginia militia regiment, named Whiting,
His house, with its contents, was burned, Stevens and
Colonel Duryea, who came up at the time, applying the
match. Later in the war bushwhacking often received a
severer, if not more summary punishment.
Upon the retreat from Big Bethel, three companies of
Confederate cavalry followed the rear of the Federal column,
at a safe distance, as far as New Market Bridge. Magruder
was reinforced by the arrival of a Louisiana regiment about
the close of the action ; but fearing a return of the Federal
troops in stronger force, he evacuated the works at Big
Bethel that night and withdrew his command to Yorktown.
Keviewing this action, it is to be noted that the enemy
was commanded by trained and experienced officers ; that the
disparity in numbers, which for the first three hours of the
fight, was less than 500, was more than made up to the con-
federates by the protection of their works and superiority in
artillery ; and that while they were entitled to the credit of
repulsing superior numbers, they inflicted astonishingly little
damage upon their assailants. The union loss was but 16
killed and 34 wounded by the enemy's fire. 1
On the union side, the primal blunder was General
Butler's, in committing a force not an officer of which had
ever been under fire, to the command of a man without ex-
1 An eye witness of the fight, a member of the First Vermont, said in a
published letter- " Their shots as a rule went over. During the last of the
engagement, the rebels would not even put their heads above their works.
They merely held their guns up in their hands and fired at random."
56 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
perience or the natural qualities fitting him for command.
After this all the other blunders became easy.1
The risky operation of marching raw troops, by night
and by different roads, to a common point, was disapproved
by Colonel Phelps ; and when the firing near New Market
Bridge was heard at Newport News, he said that it was a
collision between portions of the federal force. Colonel
Phelps also disapproved the making up of the column from
Newport News by detachments from different regiments.2
Had Phelps been in chief command at Big Bethel, it is
altogether probable that he would not have accepted the
statements of Virginia women, or Kilpatrick's crazy guesses, as
the measure of the rebel force ; that he would not have at-
tempted to carry by direct assault, works well armed with
artillery, and strengthened by morasses, ravines, and a
natural moat ; and that he would have made a different story
of Big Bethel. As it was the whole affair was a series of
blunders, redeemed only by the general good behavior of the
troops. To Washburn's coolness and courage, there is
ample testimony from both friends and strangers. His own
opinion of the affair was thus expressed, in a private letter,
written two days after the battle : " My men behaved like
veterans. Not a man of my command flinched, or hesitated
to go where I ordered him. If I had been supported, I
would have charged, and I believe I could have carried the
works. But I had no support. We had no head. I was not
notified of the order to retreat, and was left to fight alone
with my slender force against the entire force of the enemy ;
1 General Pierce retired to private life at the expiration of his three
months' term, shortly after this battle. He subsequently enlisted in a Mas-
sachusetts regiment and made a good record in a more subordinate capac-
ity.
2 It was related by correspondents of the Vermont papers at the time,
that on the return of the Vermont companies to camp Colonel Phelps
said: " When the Vermont Boys go out again, they will all go together —
and I'll command them."
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 57
and when I ceased firing I was three quarters of a mile from
the point where I first formed. All the
different commands behaved nobly : but there was no recon-
noissance, no plan of attack, and no concert of action.
Hence the enemy were left to concentrate their whole force
first against the Zouaves, then against Townsend's regiment,
then against my men. A little military skill in the General,
a little regard to the simplest rules of attack, would have
rendered our charge successful. As it was, it was a failure —
an egregious blunder." This opinion will stand with that of
a Massachusetts officer,1 that " if other troops had done their
duty as well and gone as far as those from Massachusetts
and Vermont, the name of Big Bethel would not have headed
a long list of federal repulses."2
The remaining service of the First Yermont was compa-
ratively uneventful.
On the 16th of June a scouting party, consisting of the
St. Albans, Cavendish and Brandon Companies under Major
Worthen, went out some six miles and brought in a drove
of cattle, the property of secessionists. "While out they were
fired on by a rebel cavalry picket, and three men were slight-
ly wounded with buckshot. The rebels beat a rapid retreat
and the fire of their shot guns was not returned.
On the 22d of June, Private D. H. Whitney of the Wood-
stock company, in company with Lieutenant Becker of
the Seventh New York Kegiment, mounted on mules, left
camp, unarmed, and contrary to orders. About five miles out
from camp they were fired on by rebel scouts or bush-
whackers. Becker's mule was wounded with buckshot and
1 Adjutant Walker of the Fourth Massachusetts, quoted in Schouler's
" History of Massachusetts in the Civil War."
2 In a statement published by General Pierce after his return to Massa-
chusetts, he said .• " I think had the enemy's right and centre been as
vigorously assailed by the New York troops as was their left by the
Massachusetts and Vermont, we might at least have entered the battery
though perhaps only to have been driven out."
58 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
threw him, when he crawled into the woods and made his
way back to camp. A foraging party soon after found
and brought in the dead body of Whitney, found lying in
the road, riddled with buckshot. He was the only member
of the First Vermont killed by the enemy.
The next day a report brought by two deserters from a
Louisiana Zouave regiment, that a heavy force was on its
way from Yorktown to attack Newport News occasioned
active preparations to resist an assault, and hopes that
an opportunity would be afforded to square accounts for the
reverse at Big Bethel ; but it proved to be a false report.
On the 26th, Sergeant Henry Bennett of the Middle-
bury company, the color sergeant of the regiment, a fine
soldier who left Middlebury college to fight for the flag, died
of typhoid fever in hospital at Fortress Monroe. His body
was sent to Vermont.
The general health of the regiment was good throughout
its term of service. The measles ran through it as through
all the regiments that followed it, and there was some ma-
larial fever; but there was surprisingly little dangerous ill-
ness, and no greater mortality than among the same num-
ber of men at home. One man, Whitney of Company B,
was killed by bushwhackers. Three, Sergeant Bennett of
Company I, and Privates Underwood and Lougee of Com-
pany D, died of disease. Four were discharged for disabili-
ties. One man deserted while the regiment was passing
through New York. Another obtained a furlough, went to
Vermont and did not return. From the rolls of the Bran-
don, Burlington, Cavendish and St. Albans companies not
a man was dropped for any cause. Not a death occurred at
Newport News. On the whole it may be doubted if any
regiment in the service throughout the war had a better
time than did the First Vermont. There was at first the
usual complaining over army rations among the men, Vho
did not take kindly to army bread and salt beef. This was
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 59
more heeded at home than was the case subsequently,
and the Governor despatched his agent, Mr. William B.
Hatch, to Fortress Monroe, to inquire into the needs of
the soldiers and if necessary to supply them. But as the
season advanced, and supplies of fresh meat and vegetables
were obtainable and "boxes" arrived from home,1 these
complaints ceased.
There was a good deal of scolding about the Surgeon,
Dr. Sanborn, who was not very popular with the men, and
charges of drunkenness and neglect of the sick were made
against him in the Vermont papers and supported by affi-
davits. These charges were denied in published certificates
by Colonel Phelps and Lieutenant Colonel Washburn.2
But these minor troubles were merely ripples on the sur-
face of an experience in the main astonishingly free from
hardship and suffering. The men made themselves exceed-
ingly comfortable in their camp at Newport News. They
built porches to their tents and awnings of boughs over their
company streets. They fished and foraged. They had sea
breezes and sea bathing. Withal they had constant and
thorough instruction in the duties of the soldier, till the First
became one of the best drilled regiments in the army, as
well as a model of obedience, order and efficiency. General
Phelps, though he had crack regiments of other states
under him, was especially proud of his Vermonters, and
* The friends of the members of the regiments at home, and all the
people of the State made the comfort of the soldiers their care, to an extent
not paralleled in the case of any other regiment. As the weather became
hot, hundreds of "havelocks" were made by the women and sent to them.
It being understood that their clothing was suffering from the wear and
tear of fatigue duty, the women offered to make overalls for the entire
regiment if the State would furnish the cloth, and the matter of so doing
was seriously considered by the State authorities. The supplies of good
things to eat, sent from Vermont, amounted to many tons in weight.
2 Dr. Sanborn was subsequently appointed Surgeon of the 31st Massa-
chusetts, and died at Ship Island, in the Gulf, in April 1862.
60 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
declared after they left that he greatly missed the influence
of their example on the other regiments of his command.1
He said, in a letter to Colonel Washburn that it was "a
regiment, the like of which will not soon be seen again ;"
and the men returned his good opinion of them with un-
bounded respect and esteem.
The term of the regiment expired on the 2d of August.
On the 4th it embarked with its arms and tents, at Newport
News, on the steamers Ben de Ford and R. S. Spaulding.
These sailed from Fortress Monroe on the 5th, direct for
New Haven, where they arrived after a voyage of forty
hours. The regiment took the train at once for P rattle -
boro. At Springfield, Massachusetts, it was lunched and re-
freshed with coffee by the citizens. It arrived at Brattle-
boro at midnight of the 7th. The citizens of the town had
planned an impromptu reception, with music and torchlights;
but it was not thought best to go into camp at that hour,
and the men spent the night in the cars. The next morn-
ing they pitched camp on the Fair ground at Brattleboro.
But a single man of the regiment was left behind at
Fortress Monroe. This was one of the Woodstock company
who was suffering from a fracture of the skull, received by a
fall from the second story window of the General Hospital at
Fortress Monroe. Seventeen sick men embarked with the
rest, took the journey home with safety, and were placed
after the arrival at Brattleboro in a temporary hospital
arranged for them in the upper story of the Brattleboro
House. One of these, Private Tabor, of St. Albans, died
before the regiment left. Of the 782 officers and men of the
First that went to Virginia all but five returned to Vermont.
The regiment remained at " Camp Phelps/' in Brattle-
boro, for eight days. It was reviewed , August 8th, by Gov-
1 Colonel Phelps was promoted to be Brigadier General about the time
the regiment left Newport News ; and remained in command of that post
after its departure.
THE FIRST REGIMENT. 61
ernor Fairbanks, and battalion and company drills were kept
up regularly till the 15th, on which day and the day follow-
ing, the regiment was paid off by Major Thomas H. Halsey —
his first service as U. S. Paymaster — and mustered out of
the service by Lieutenant W. "W. Chamberlain, 14th U. S.
Infantry. At 6 o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th, the
regiment left Brattleboro, by train. The companies arrived
at their homes that night or the next morning and received
rousing welcomes from the citizens of their respective towns.
The term of service of the regiment from the date of the
selection of the several companies to the final disbandment,
lacked four days of four months.1 Of course this did not
end the service of the members of a regiment composed of
such material. And the record of the First Yermont cannot
better close than with mention of the facts that the field,
staff and line officers of the regiment returned to the service
almost to a man ; that no less than one hundred and sixty-
one, of its members became field and line officers of the
Yermont regiments and batteries subsequently organized, to
which they took the careful drill and soldierly spirit and
regard for discipline and order, which they had learned
under Phelps and Washburn, and that a number received
commissions in the service of other States or of the United
States, making a total of two hundred and fifty who sub-
sequently held commissions ; and that of the 753 of its rank
and file, over six hundred, or five out of every six, re-entered
the service for three years.2
1 The officers and men were paid by the goverment from the 20th of
April— the day after the first meeting of the militia company commanders,
to select the companies— to the 15th of August.
5 Adjutant General Washburn.
CHAPTEE Y.
THE SECOND REGIMENT.
Organization of the Regiment— Sketches of its Field and Staff— Departure
for the War — Receptions on the Way — Arrival in Washington — Move-
ment into Virginia — Brigaded under Colonel Howard — Campaign and
Battle of Bull Run— List of Killed and Wounded— Part Taken by
other Vermonters— Return to Bush Hill — Disaffection towards
Colonel Whiting— A case of Discipline— Removal to Camp Lyon—
Building Forts— Reconnoissances — a Night Collision — Camp Griffin —
Hardships and Suffering— Brigaded with First Vermont Brigade.
The Second Regiment of Volunteers placed in the field
by Vermont was a notable regiment. The first of the three
years regiments, it was longer in the service than any other
Vermont organization except one.1 It had a share in almost
every battle fought by the Army of the Potomac, from the
first Bull Run to the surrender of Lee ; and its quality as a
fighting regiment is indicated by the fact that its list of
killed and wounded in action numbered no less than 751, or
forty per cent of its aggregate of 1858 officers and men ;
while its ratio of killed and mortally wounded was more than
eight times the general ratio of killed and mortally wounded
in the Union army.
In its original composition the Second was a picked
regiment, the companies forming it being selected by Ad-
jutant and Inspector General Baxter from about sixty com-
panies, which tendered their services to the State for the
1 The Seventh Regiment, which was retained on duty in the Depart-
ment of the Gulf for nearly a year after the close of the war.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 63
war in the early days of May 1861. The ten companies
accepted for the Second were recruited in the towns of Ben-
nington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Castleton, Fletcher, Lud-
low, Montpelier, Tunbridge, Yergennes and Waterbury, in the
nine counties of Addison, Bennington, Chittenden, Franklin,
Orange, Kutland, "Washington, Windham and Windsor, thus
representing the State at large as fully as any regiment re-
cruited during the war.1
It being deemed all important to secure for the com-
mand of the regiment an officer of military education and
experience, the Colonolcy was first tendered by Governor
Fairbanks, by telegraph, to Colonel Israel 33. Eichardson of
Michigan, a gallant son of Vermont who had won fame and
rank in the regular army in the Mexican war. But Colonel
Richardson had just accepted the command of the First
Michigan Regiment. In declining the offer he recommended
to Governor Fairbanks, as well fitted for command, Ex-
Lieutenant Henry Whiting, Fifth U. S. Infantry, who had
been his classmate at West Point, and was then living at St.
Clair, Michigan.
Lieutenant Whiting, who had offered his services to the
Governor of Michigan a little too late to receive an appoint-
ment to command one of the regiments which that State
was raising, was thereupon summoned to St. Johnsbury by
Governor Fairbanks and immediately commissioned, on the
6th of June, 1861, as Colonel. Whiting was a native of
Bath, Steuben County, N. Y. He was appointed, from that
State, to the U. S. Military Academy and graduated in 1841,
standing No. 17 in a class of 41, of which George H. Thomas,
Israel B. Bichardson and other distinguished officers were
members. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, Fifth
1 A company of Irish Americans, recruited in Burlington and Colches-
ter, was among those originally accepted ; but being found deficient in
number and discipline was disbanded by order of the Governor and the
Yergennes company took its place.
64 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAE.
U. S. Infantry, and served five years on the Northwestern
frontier. In the fall of 1845, war with Mexico being immi-
nent, he was ordered to the Southern frontier. In February,
1846, at Corpus Christi Bay, Texas, just before the U. S.
Army crossed the Eio Grande, Lieutenant Whiting resigned
his commission. Having married in Michigan, while stationed
there, he returned thither and settled at St. Clair, in the
lumber business, and was so engaged when the war broke
out. He was, at that time, one of the Board of Eegents of
Michigan University.
George J. Stannard of St. Albans, was appointed
Lieutenant Colonel. Though without military education he
had already shown strong military tastes. He had been
active in the reorganization of the militia, and had attracted
notice as one of the best officers of one of the best militia
companies, the Eansom Guard, of St. Albans. For two years
he had been Colonel of the Fourth Eegiment of State Militia,
and he had, as the pages of this history abundantly show,
every instinct and quality of a gallant soldier and a suc-
cessful commander.
Charles H. Joyce, a young lawyer of Northfield, who six
months before had been elected Colonel of the First Eegi-
ment of State Militia,1 was appointed Major.
The staff was of remarkable excellence. Quartermaster
Perley P. Pitkin, of Montpelier, was one of the best that
any regiment ever had. His merit was subsequently recog-
nized by promotion to a Colonelcy in the Quartermaster's
Department, and by such trusts as the charge of the main
base of supplies for the Army of the Potomac. Surgeon
N. H. Ballou, of Burlington, was an experienced and skillful
physician. Assistant Surgeon B. W. Carpenter, of Burling-
ton, was one of the most capable and promising young
physicians in the State. Guilford S. Ladd (of Bennington)
1 Major Joyce subsequently represented the First Vermont District, in
the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses.
THE SECOND .REGIMENT. 65
was Adjutant, and Kev. Claudius B. Smith, a Baptist clergy-
man, Principal of the " Literary and Scientific Institute" of
Brandon, was appointed Chaplain. Among the line officers
were Captains J. H. Walbridge of Bennington, subsequently
the second Colonel of the regiment, F. V. Eandall of Mont-
pelier, subsequently Colonel of the Thirteenth and Seven-
teenth regiments ; Y. S. Fullam of Ludlow, afterwards
Lieutenant Colonel of the Seventh : James Hope, the land-
scape painter, of Castleton; Charles Dillingham of Water-
bury, subsequently Lieutenant Colonel of the Eighth Ver-
mont ; Lieutenants Newton Stone, John S. Tyler and A. S.
Tracy, who became in succession colonels of the Second;
Enoch E. Johnson, under whom, as Lieutenant Colonel, the
last of the regiment came home in July, 1865, and other
subsequently well known officers.
The uniforms of the regiment were made in Vermont, of
cloth of Vermont manufacture ] — the State providing uniforms
for the officers as well as men — and consisted of a frock coat,
pantaloons and cap of gray " doeskin," with blue cord. A full
regimental band of twenty-four brass pieces was provided.2
The companies rendezvoused at Burlington, on the 6th
of June, and went into camp, called " Camp Underwood" in
honor of Lieutenant Governor Underwood, on the Eair
ground, North of the village, in new A tents. The men
underwent a rigid inspection, by Lieutenant Colonel Kains,
U. S. A., which occupied several days. On the 12th of June,
the oath of allegiance was administered to the officers and
men by U. S. District Judge Smalley. A single recruit, whose
heart failed him, refused to take the oath, and was summarily
drummed out of camp by the other members of the company
to which he had belonged. On the 19th the arms arrived
and were distributed, and somewhat to the disappointment
1 Manufactured by Merrill & Co. , of Reading, Vt.
5 The Bennington Band, F. M. Crossett, Captain.
66 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
of the men, proved to be smooth-bore muskets of the Spring-
field pattern of 1842 — an excellent arm, but not the rifled
muskets they had been expecting. Eifles enough to arm a
single company (Company A) were obtained; and the
smooth bores were all subsequently exchanged for rifled
muskets. The regiment was an object of much attention
during the two weeks of its stay in the State. Excursion
trains brought visitors by thousands to the camp ; the women
of various towns provided the men with havelocks and
towels, and supplied the entire outfit of linen, lint and ban-
dages for the regimental hospital ; the Yermont Bible Society
distributed testaments to the entire regiment, and St. Paul's
Church, of Burlington, gave prayer books to all who desired
them. '
On the 20th of June the regiment was mustered into the
service by Lieutenant Colonel Rains,2 was reviewed by the
Governor, and received its U. S. standard, which was pre-
sented by Governor Fairbanks, and was placed in charge of
Color-Sergeant Ephraim Harrington of Company G, a man
of gigantic stature, measuring six feet four inches in his
stockings, by whom it was bravely borne for two years.3
On Monday morning, June 24th, under orders to report
at Washington, the regiment broke camp, marching out at
the hour set (7 A. M.,) to a minute. As it swept through the
streets of Burlington, in column by company, the gray ranks
1 The Montpelier company received a handsome flag from the ladies of
that town, which was presented at Camp Underwood, by Rev. Dr. William
H. Lord, and other companies were remembered by citizens of their
respective towns in various ways.
2 Rains was a melancholy man in those days. "There can be no
better material for soldiers," he said one day to the writer of this history,
as they watched the regiment at dress parade. "These men are going
to fight. The Southerners, too, will fight hard— and how the blood will
flow!"
3 Sergeant Harrington served through the war without a wound, and
cr.me home a captain in July, 1865.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 67
filling the street from curbstone to curbstone, it formed a
stirring spectacle. Every man bore in his cap the Green
Mountain Boy's badge, the sprig of evergreen, and no finer
or more effective looking regiment was seen during the
war. It numbered 868 officers and men. Five men were
left in hospital. A train of twenty four cars, drawn by
two locomotives, bore the regiment to Troy, N. Y. Here
a concourse of many thousands greeted the troops at
the Kailroad Station, and committees appointed by the
" Sons of Vermont" of Troy, took them in charge. The offi-
cers were entertained at private houses, an ample collation
was provided for the men in the Hailroad depot, and General
Wool reviewed the regiment, before its departure. In New
York, where the regiment arrived next morning, another en-
thusiastic reception took place, one feature of which was the
presentation, in a ringing speech by Hon. E. D. Culver of
Brooklyn, of a beautiful regimental standard, the gift of the
Sons of Vermont in New York.1 The regiment was also
addressed by ex-Governor Hiland Hall and U. S. Senator
Foot of Vermont. The regiment was quartered in the Park
barracks, during its stay of seven or eight hours in the city.
On its way to the Jersey City Ferry, in the afternoon, multi-
tudes of citizens lined the streets and greeted the Vermonters
with cheers and offerings of flowers.2 The New York papers,
1 The Vermontcrs in New York had organized for the occasion, as fol-
lows : Hon. E. W. Stoughton, President; Geo. Folsom, Esq., and Hon. D.
E. Wheeler, Vice-Presidents ; C. L. Benedict, Esq., Secretary, and B. Mur-
ray, Esq., Treasurer. Reception Committee: — Major John A. Pullen, Rev.
E. H. Chapin, Geo. E. Rogers, H. F. Spaulding, Wm. B. Hatch, Horace
Greene, D. A. Heald, Leslie Baxter, Warren Leland, C. W. Prentiss, C. P.
Peck, Edgar Starr, George Curtis, Seth B. Hunt, J. R. Spaulding, Geo. Fol-
som, Jno. Bradley ; also, representing Brooktyn, Wm. Weston, C. L. Bene-
dict, H. A. Johnston. Committee to present colors : B. Murray, Jr., E. A.
Stoughton, S. S. Scott, A. M. Lyon, Wm. C. Conant, J. H. Eldridge, Peter
Starr, Rev. E. H. Chapin. Committee on badges: C. L. Benedict, Alderman
Mott, C. P. Peck. The badge selected was a sprig of Hemlock.
2 Among these was a basket with the following note : " Will the Colo-
nel of the Second Vermont Regiment please accept for his regiment the
68 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
which as a rule had only good words for the Green Mountain
boys throughout the war, were especially complimentary. *
The regiment passed through Philadelphia at midnight
of the 25th, receiving the cordial Philadelphian greeting and
refreshment, which so many soldiers learned to be grateful
for, in the following years. It marched, with loaded mus-
kets, through Baltimore, and reached Washington on the
morning of the 26th and went into camp on Capitol Hill,
three fourths of a mile east of the Capitol. Fourteen regi-
ments were then in camp there. a
During the two weeks of its stay on Capitol Hill the re-
giment was occupied with daily drills.
The movements preliminary to the first great battle of
the war were now in progress. Alexandria and Arlington
Heights had been occupied by the Union forces, and Gen-
eral Scott was organizing the army which under General
McDowell was to move against Manassas, where General
Beauregard had an army of nearly twenty thousand. From
the 1st to the 15th of July the regiments which were to form
McDowell's column were moving across the Potomac, and
encamping around Alexandria and on Arlington Heights in a
gradually widening circle. The Second Vermont was or-
dered into Virginia on the 10th of July. It went by steamer
accompanying basket of evergreens, from a Vermont lady, who has trimmed
them with the scissors with which her mother, Millicent Barrett, cut the
papers for the first cartridges that were used at Concord, Mass., and Bun-
ker Hill, in 1775."
'The following from the N. Y. Herald, of June 26th, is one of many
similar paragraphs : " The First regiment of Vermont have already figured
with honor to themselves on the battlefield, and it is evident from the phy-
sique and general cut of the Second, that they will not be second to the first
on the field of action. All the staff officers of this fine regiment appear to
be highly educated men, who know exactly how to prosecute the work in
which they are about to engage. The men are nearly all six footers."
2 One of these, the 8th Minnesota, had in its ranks, by actual count,
170 native Vermonters, being one sixth its entire number.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 69
to Alexandria, and thence by rail to Bush Hill, five miles West
of Alexandria. Here, at a point in advance of any troops in
that vicinity, it went into camp, on the handsome place of
Commodore Forrest, then in the confederate service. Next
day a detachment of three companies, under Major Joyce,
was thrown out to the bridge at Springfield, about five miles
from Fairfax Court House. A day or two later, the Third,
Fourth and Fifth Maine regiments having arrived at Bush
Hill, the Yermont Second was brigaded with them, under
command of Colonel O. O. Howard, of the Third Maine.
The regiment remained here, till it started on the brief
campaign of Bull Eun.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
On the 16th of July, the largest army ever collected on
the American continent, began moving to the front. It was
in five divisions under Generals Tyler, Hunter, Heintzleman,
Eunyon and Colonel D. S. Miles. Howard's Brigade was
the third of Heintzleman's Division, the first and second
brigades being commanded by Colonels W. B. Franklin and
O. B. Wilcox. One division (Eunyon's) remained back to
guard the communications. The other four — numbering all
told 28,000 men, with 49 guns — marched to the West by as
many roads. Heintzleman's division moved on the extreme
left, by the country road running on the south of and parallel
with the Orange and Alexandria Eailroad, the Second Ver-
mont bringing up the rear of the column. Colonel Whit-
ing and his field and staff officers were as yet without horses
and marched on foot with the men. 1
The march of the division was delayed by the burning
of bridges, and by other obstructions. A stream was crossed
1 Major Joyce bought a horse on the way to Bull Run, and was the only
mounted officer, on the march out and back. Horses for the field officers
were subsequently sent from Yermont.
70 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
on a single string-piece of hewn timber ; and it was after mid-
night before the regiment stopped for a short rest. After
three hours sleep, the men were roused, and at 8 o'clock of
the 17th were again moving. The brigade camped that night
near Sangstei's Station (two miles south of Fairfax Station)
where some provisions left by an Alabama regiment in its
hastily abandoned camp afforded supplies to the men, whose
three da} s' rations had already begun to give out, under the
wasteful ways of new troops. The three confederate brigades
stationed at Fairfax Court House, Fairfax Station and Cen-
treville fell back without show of resistance, and General
McDowell established his headquarters at Fairfax Court
House that night.
During the next day, Howard's brigade rested, though
stirred during the afternoon by the booming of Tyler's and
Richardson's guns in the premature and inconclusive fight at
Blackburn's Ford — the first sounds of battle that had ever
reached the ears of most of the men. At 5 p. M., the brigade
moved and marched five or six miles to a point on the
Braddock Eoad, two miles east of Centreville, around which
place the army encamped that night. Here General
McDowell waited two days to reconnoitre, and ration his
army — a delay which was one of the chief causes of the first
great Union defeat, as it gave the enemy just the time
needed for Johnston to reinforce Beauregard with the army
of the Shenandoah. The rest, however, was very grateful to
the men, who had felt severely their three days of marching
and standing to arms. Rations were scanty in the camp of
the Second and the men eked them out by foraging for honey
and chickens in the surrounding farmyards.
The terrain of the coming battle is too familiar to need
description. The historic stream of Bull Run, whose abrupt
banks made it a formidable military obstacle, runs in a
general course from north to south. Crossing this at right
angles by a stone arch — the famous " Stone Bridge" so prom-
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 71
inent in all accounts of the battle — ran the "Warrenton
Turnpike, the broad macadamized road way which was to be
such a thoroughfare of armies in the four years to come.
Along the right bank of Bull Eun General Beauregard
had disposed his army, now numbering 22,000 men and 29'
guns. It was swelled by the arrival of Johnston and the^
Confederate army of the Shenandoah, during the battle y
to 32,000 men and 59 guns.
General McDowell's original plan was to make his main
assault upon the Confederate right, and he had complimented
Heintzleman's division by selecting it to turn the enemy's
right and make the leading attack, and had placed it on
his own left for that purpose. But inspection of the
ground led him to change his plan ; and on Thursday night
he announced to his division commanders his purpose to
turn the enemy's left instead of his right. Heintzleman's
division was still to share in the main attack, and was
accordingly moved from the extreme left to the right.
The order of battle directed Hunter and Heintzleman
to move in the latter part of the night and cool of the early
morning, cross Bull Eun at the unguarded ford of Suclley
Springs, two miles North of the Stone Bridge, and surprise
and roll back the Confederate left. Tyler was then to cross
at the Stone Bridge and complete the destruction of the
enemy. It was a good plan — Bull Eun has been well called
one of the best planned and worst fought battles of the war —
if it had succeeded, another civil war would have become
necessary before slavery and secession were destroyed.
McDowell's orders were issued on Saturday. That
evening Colonel Howard addressed the men of the Second
Vermont, with the rest of his brigade, saying that it was
probably the last time they would all meet on earth, and
dwelling more than was wise on the perils before them ; but
nothing could dampen the spirit of the men. They welcomed
the contest, and were as sure of victory as that there woul d
72 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
be a battle. The troops were roused at half past two
next morning ; but Heintzleman made but
l61' little progress till after daylight, as Tyler's
division, moving first, and behind time, to the Stone Bridge,
filled the turnpike. Hunter's division, which preceded
Heintzleman's, followed Tyler's with ever-accumulating de-
lays. The sun was well up before Heintzleman was under
way; and as Howard's brigade was the last of the division, and
the Second Yermont the rear regiment of the brigade, it
was seven o'clock before the Yermont regiment was fairly in
motion. The men left their tents standing, and moved in
light marching order, with forty rounds of ammunition in
their cartridge boxes.1 They took their blankets, thrown
over their shoulders, but left their knapsacks in their tents,
where they were found by the enem}r, thirty-six hours after.
Between two and three miles out from Centreville,
Heintzleman's division turned off from the turnpike by the
wood road leading north to Sudley Ford, over wrhich Hunter
had preceded him. As Howard turned from the turnpike
into this road, he was halted by General McDowell, who was
superintending the movement in person. McDowell had
become apprehensive lest the enemy should cross Black-
burn's Ford and attack his left,2 and he held Howard's
brigade to help Miles's division, which he had disposed
along the Centreville ridge to resist any such attack, in case
of need. The Confederate reports show that such an
assault on the Union left was definitely ordered by General
Beauregard ; but before it was executed the clouds of dust
raised as the Union columns moved round to the north, told
the Confederate commanders of the danger which threatened
1 The cartridge was that so much used during the war on the Con-
federate side, containing a ball and three buckshot, for the smooth bore
muskets.
2 General McDowell's Report.
THE SECOND REGIMENT.
73
their left, and abandoning the counter demonstration they
hurried brigades and batteries thither, leaving only a few
companies to guard the Stone Bridge and the lower fords.
For over four hours Howard's brigade waited wearily at
the spot where it was halted by McDowell, the latter part of
the time being enlivened by the sounds of the battle now
going on in terrible earnest across Bull Run. The roar of
F«W Lu», 3PM.
o/ a^dU.
,. B»tt*W«ffl
v Ritkitfr and Grigini Batttrii
artillery and rattle of musketry thickened, rolling to the south
as Hunter and then Heintzleman became engaged and pressed
back the enemy. The latter had been driven back over a
mile, to and beyond the Warrenton turnpike. Sherman's and
Keyes's brigades (of Tyler's division) had forded Bull Bun
above the Stone Bridge and were pressing the rebel centre,
and thus far all was going^ well. Considerable portions of
74 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the Confederate army had in fact given up the day as lost,
and having thrown down their guns were streaming towards
Manassas in utter panic. But Johnston and Beauregard had
hurried in person to the spot, and a new line was formed by
them, composed at first of twelve regiments and twenty-two
guns, soon heavily strengthened by fresh troops now arriv-
ing both from the Shenandoah and from Kichmond. The
line was formed in the edge of some woods which afforded
concealment and protection, while their batteries swept the
plateau south of the turnpike, on which stood the house of
Mrs. Henry,1 near which the hardest fighting of the day
took place. It was here that Ricketts's battery was thrice lost
and thrice recaptured and finally abandoned. Here the
Union advance was checked, and here the retreat began.
It was here, and as the last effort to hold the enemy back,
while the demoralized fragments of the divisions that crossed
Bull Kun were withdrawn, that the Yermonters did what
fighting they had to do in this their first battle.2
When General McDowell discovered that Hunter and
Heintzlernan were encountering heavy opposition, he sent
back for Howard's brigade. The order to join the division
reached Howard between twelve and one o'clock. The Stone
Bridge was then guarded by but four companies of South
Carolina troops, and if the Union commanders had only
known it, he could easily have forced a passage by the turn-
pike, and reached the field by a march of three miles. But
his orders were to follow the route taken by the division, and
he accordingly made the long detour by Sudley Ford. It
was an exhausting march, in the very heat of the day. The
1 Mrs. Henry, a bedridden old woman, was killed in her bed, during the
battle, by fragments of exploded shells.
2 "Across the [Warrenton] road was another hill or rather elevated
ridge or table-land. The hottest part of the contest was for the possession
of this hill, with a house on it. The force engaged here was Heintzleman's
division, Wilcox's and Howard's brigades as the right."— General Me-
Dowell's Report.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 75
brigade Lad made two miles when an order came from
General Heintzleman to liurry forward at double-quick.
It was obeyed, though only the stoutest could stand the
pace, and after a mile of it, the numbers of the men who
fainted and fell out of the ranks made it plain that less haste
would be greater speed. The rest of the march was accord-
ingly made at quick time. The brigade reached the field
about three o'clock, meeting, after it passed Sudley Spring,
the disorganized remnants of a brigade, which had made its
fight and was pushing for the rear.1 Guided by an aid of
General Heintzleman, it was at once sent to the right and
front.
The fighting of the Union troops at that portion of the
field had been for some time a series of disconnected attacks
upon the enemy's line. An artillery duel between Griffin's and
Eicketts's batteries and a superior number of Confederate
guns, had been maintained till the Union cannoneers had
been killed or scattered by the enemy's musketry. Porter's,
Franklin's and Wilcox's brigades had been brought up
and regiment after regiment sent forward, only to retire
in disorder. The " Fire Zouaves " of New York had made
their short fight and been scattered by a charge of Virginia
cavalry under Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, with whom, in later
days, our Vermont cavalry became acquainted. The First
Minnesota had been led up by General Heintzleman in per-
son, and repulsed. The Fourteenth New York had made a
gallant advance, and gone back quicker than it went forward.
The battalion of U. S. Marines ordered to support the Four-
teenth New York had thrice broken and thrice been rallied,
and then fled in rout, leaving one of their officers, a gallant
1 "As we approached the field we met Colonel Wilcox's brigade all
disbanded. The privates said to our men as we passed : ' hurry on ; we
drove them two miles ; you won't catch them, if you don't hurry.' Yet
the sight of so many disorganized men looked very suspicious to me."
— Colonel Whiting's manuscript.
76 YEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
young Yermonter, Lieutenant Robert E. Hitchcock, dead
upon the field; and so of other regiments. Hunter and
Heintzleman were wounded ; Wilcox was wounded and a
prisoner; Eicketts was lying wounded under his deserted
guns ; Griffin had with difficulty withdrawn three of his guns,
which were met by the Second Vermont as the latter went
forward, leaving three on the field. The day was, in fact,
already lost for McDowell, though the Vermonters at least
were no more aware of it than were the Confederate
generals.
It was during this last lull of exhaustion and dawning
consciousness of general disaster on the Union side, and of
doubt what was next to happen on the Confederate side,
that Howard's brigade was put into action. It was ordered
forward by Heintzleman, evidently with little hope of retriev-
ing the day, probably with no other object than to hold the
enemy in check while the rest of the army was withdrawn.
As it moved into the open ground on the ridge the sight was
not encouraging to such of the officers and men as took any
sense of the situation. Not a gun was firing on the Union
side, and no organized body of troops, except their own, was
in sight in that part of the field,1 while the enemy's line, now
visible in front, was still firm, protected by fences and woods,
and in the not remote distance on the right, the brigade of
General E. Kirby Smith (a Connecticut renegade) just
arrived on the field from the Shenandoah, could be seen
advancing unopposed.
" The fact," says Colonel Whiting, in his brief and
fragmentary report, "that we saw no infantry organized,
gave us a good deal to think of, till we came to where the
rifled cannon balls fell around. Then, not hearing any
artillery from our side, the fact burst upon us, that all of our
troops in the neighborhood except our brigade, were routed."
1 " We did not see that day on the field any other organized troops."
—Colonel Whiting's manuscript.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 77
Nevertheless the brigade moved forward. The Second Ver-
mont, marching by the flank, moved steadily up the slope,
and over a low crest, near the pike, where it came under the
fire of the enemy's batteries. By one of the first shells from
these Corporal K. H. Benjamin, of Company C, was instantly
killed, and First Sergeant U. A. "Woodbury, of Company H,
had an arm taken off. This was the first life lost in action,
and the first sleeve emptied by a rebel shot, among the Ver-
mont troops.1
Eight or ten men of the Second Vermont were wounded
while passing over the ridge. Moving on, into a hollow
which afforded shelter from the enemy's fire, Colonel Howard
formed his brigade in two lines of battle, the first composed
of the Second Vermont and Fourth Maine, and the second
of the Third Maine and what was left of the Fifth Maine,
half of that regiment having scattered under the artillery
fire. The Second Vermont marched steadily up the slope
and was the first regiment of the brigade upon the crest.
It made this movement alone, the Maine regiment which
1 Russell H. Benjamin was a young man of 30, and a resident of Brattle-
boro. He was in the employ of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad
company, when the war broke out, and enlisted when the first company of
three years' troops was organized in that town. He was a member of the
color-guard, and gave promise of being a good soldier. He was struck by
a fragment of a shell, and instantly killed. His body was borne to one side
by his comrades and laid under a tree ; and was subsequently buried on
the field by the enemy. He left a widow.
Sergeant Woodbury, of Elmore, was a student in the Medical de-
partment of the University of Vermont, in April, 1861. He enlisted in the
Fletcher company of the Second, and was the Orderly Sergeant of the
company. A fragment of the same shell which killed Corporal Benjamin
took off his right arm. He was taken to the rear to a cooper's shop near
Sudley Church, used as a hospital, where his arm was amputated near the
shoulder, by Surgeon Ballou. He was captured with the rest of the
severely wounded, and after lying a week in the cooper's shop was taken to
Richmond, and remained a prisoner till October, when he was released and
received an honorable discharge from the service, to which he returned the
next year as a Captain in the Eleventh Vermont. He was subsequently
transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps.
78 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
should have been the guiding regiment on its right hanging
back, and in fact never reaching the line where the Second
halted. Passing over the ridge and half-way down the slope
beyond, the Second Vermont halted in sight of the enemy's
line, plainly visible in the edge of the woods and behind a
rail fence, from 200 to 300 yards distant.1 Here the regiment
opened fire, and fired from ten to fifteen rounds per man,
with the effect of causing the withdrawal of a considerable
portion of the enemy's line within the shelter of the woods.
Seeing to the right some Confederate troops moving by the
flank towards the woods in front of the regiment, Captain
Walbridge, of Company A, whose men were armed with
Springfield rifles, requested permission of Colonel Whiting
to move his company in that direction and attack them.
This request, which later in the war would have been deemed
a rather peculiar one under the circumstances, was granted.
Walbridge marched his compan}* some distance to the right,
halted, and opened fire with noticeable effect, the enemy
moving hastily into the shelter of the woods. Lieutenant
Colonel Stannard, who showed in this his first battle the
coolness and courage which marked his conduct in so many
subsequent fights, seeing Walbridge's movement, went after
him, to order him back to the regiment ; but learning that
he had the Colonel's permission, left him there.
The Second Vermont held its position, receiving repeated
volleys of musketry, for about half an hour, during which
Colonel Howard ordered up his second line, or as much of
it as could be formed ; and the Third Maine, after having
been once dispersed, as it passed over the crest, by the
enemy's artillery fire, and falling back to re-form in the hol-
low below, came up in the rear of the Yermonters and
1 Supposed to have been the brigade of Colonel T. J. Jackson, who
gained in this battle his title of " Stonewall Jackson," and two South
Carolina regiments under Colonels Kershaw and Cash, with Kemper's
battery.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 79
commenced firing over their heads. About this time the
concentration of the fire of the enemy's batteries, opening
from the right as well as left upon his position, becoming
serious, Colonel Whiting gave the order to cease firing, and
to march "by the flank" to the right. Only a portion of the
regiment heard the order, and obeyed it. The rest remained,
but ceased firing under a cry, which ran along the line, that
they had been firing on friends instead of foes.1 The sight
of some rebel colors, in the skirt of the woods, soon unde-
ceived them, however, and they began firing again, firing
in all some twenty rounds, when gradually discovering
that the rest of the regiment had retired and that the
line behind them had departed, they fell back by com-
panies and squads, some, however, remaining till their
ammunition was about exhausted. All halted under the cover
of the crest, where the regiment was again formed ; then fell
back over the plateau under a sharp fire ; and then, discover-
ing that the army was in full retreat, hastened after the
retreating masses. Meantime Company A. maintained its
advanced position, and was joined by a battalion of
U. S. troops, believed to have been Major Sykes's bat-
talion of U. S. regulars, which was the last Union force of
any size to maintain its organization in this part of
the field. Perceiving, soon after, that the latter had fallen
back to the right and rear and were forming square to resist
cavalry,2 Captain Walbridge joined the regulars with his
1 Captain Walbridge states that a Confederate officer or soldier came
from the woods to within hailing distance of the regiment and shouted:
" You are firing on your friends."
2 Taking a position on the extreme right in front of several regiments
of the enemy, I opened an effective fire upon them and held my ground
until all our troops had fallen back, and my flank was turned by a large
force of horse and foot. I then retired a short distance in good order, and
facing to the enemy on the crest of a hill, held his cavalry in check which
still threatened our flank. At this stage of the action, my command was
the only opposing force to the enemy and the last to leave the field."— Re-
port of Major George Sykes, Commanding Battallion U. S. Regulars
80 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
company and helped form the square. The formation had been
hardly completed, however, when a furious cannonade was
opened from a Confederate battery which accompanied the
cavalry. The order to " reduce square " was at once given
and obeyed with alacrity. The situation was not a pleasant
one, and "Walbridge thought it best to return to the regiment.
While marching back, he noticed a line of the enemy at the
edge of the woods in front, and proposed to his men to take
a parting shot at them. This was done, and was replied to
by a volley from the enemy, big enough to have swept Co. A
from existence ; but only one Yermonter was wounded by
it, a ball passing through his cheek. This was the last
fighting done that day by any portion of the regiment, and
must have been almost if not quite the last done by any
organized portion of the Union Army on the field of Bull
Kun.
Hastening back to where he left the regiment, Walbridge
found it and all the Union forces gone, and followed the
retreat, halting once and forming his company in a piece of
woods, to resist an expected attack of " Black Horse Cavalry,"
which, however, did not come. The company then mingled
with the fleeing crowd.
The Second Vermont maintained its organization — and
was the only regiment of Howard's brigade that did so — till
after it re-crossed the turnpike, and till it reached a spot
where a jam of ambulances, artillery and ammunition wagons
filled the road to Sudley Ford. The contagion of the panic
under which nearly one-half of McDowell's army had dis-
solved, here struck the Vermonters ; and though some of the
best of the company commanders kept with them some of the
best of their men, for the rest it was pretty much every man
for himself. They returned by tho roundabout way over
which they went, fording Bull Kun near Sudley Ford, and Cub
Run at the so-called " Suspension bridge" where the blockade
of wagons and artillery took place which gave the enemy their
THE SECOND KEGIMENT. 81
largest capture of guns, and reaching their camp at Centre-
ville between nine and ten o'clock p. M.
Colonel Whiting's account of the retreat is as follows :
" Colonel Howard was not visible. It seemed unmilitary for
me to order a retreat ; but it seemed necessary. I ordered :
' Cease firing : Shoulder arms : Eight face : March !' When
part way off the field, say four hundred yards, I looked
around and as it seemed the left [of the line] had not heard
my command and had not started ; and the Captain of the
company on the right seemed to think his company might do
some more service yet, and was loth to leave the field. But
little time elapsed before we were all over the hill. I chose
marching off the field by the flank, fearing that by marching
in line, as we came on, the line might be broken, and present
the appearance of too hasty a retreat. Had my command
been heard and obeyed the manner of leaving the field would
have been more satisfactory. The regiment was broken up,
going over the thickly bushed hill. On coming out to a clear
place, I inquired of some officers, of the casualties. They
said the Captain of the color company was left on the field.1
I proposed to accompany them to bring him off. While we
were talking a mounted officer rode up and told us we would
all be taken prisoners in ten minutes. We then proceeded a
little to where there was an assemblage of stragglers. Colonel
Howard ordered me to form line, which I did. He ordered
the Maine regiments to do the same, which they did not.
I was ordered to march my regiment back to Centreville.
We had proceeded but a little way on the narrow road, being
driven out every few rods by artillery teams. Though I had
not seen any of the rebs in pursuit I presumed the mounted
officer that warned us to leave had seen them, and that we
should probably meet them at the next cross roads. So I
1 This, however, was not the case. Captain Todd was helped off from
the field by some of his men, was placed by Lieutenant Colonel
nard on a stray horse which he caught, and reached the camp that evening.
82 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
directed the regiment down a wooded stream and waded the
one it emptied into. When opposite the cross roads, we heard
the firing and yelling we anticipated. When a little way out
of Centreville we met the reserve."
By eleven o'clock that night most of the stragglers were in
camp. As a general thing the men brought their muskets with
them,1 and though all early threw away their blankets many
brought in blankets which they had picked up on the retreat.
That the regiment compared favorably with the others of
the brigade in point of discipline is indicated by the
fact that of the 616 men officially reported missing, of
Howard's brigade, but 91 were of the Second Vermont,
though it was the largest regiment in the brigade. The
Fourth Maine reported 119 missing, and the Fifth Maine
no less than 333 missing. In fact, as will appear shortly,
but ten unwounded Verrnonters were captured, and but
thirty-one in all. The official reports of the Federal loss,3
made immediately after the battle, though generally ac-
cepted on both sides, were beyond question exaggerated,
by reporting as missing stragglers who soon rejoined their regi-
ments, and by counting twice men who were included in the
lists both of wounded and prisoners. If the total loss of
McDowell's army, as officially reported, was as much exag-
gerated as that of the Second Yermont regiment, the
aggregate should be lessened by nearly one-half. In General
Heintzleman's report of the casualties of his division, the loss
1 "I do not think that over one in twenty threw away their muskets."
Statement of Captain Elijah Wales.
• The casualties of the two armies, as stated ia the official reports, were
as follows :
Union, Killed, 481; wounded, 1011; missing, 1216;— total, 2,708.
Confederate, " 387; " 1582; {i 13;— " 1,982.
The Union losses were confined to the seven brigades and five batteries,
numbering 18,572 officers and men, and 24 guns, which General McDowell
took across Bull Run.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 83
of the Second Yermont is stated to have been 6 enlisted men
killed, 1 officer and 21 enlisted men wounded, and 1 officer
and 91 enlisted men missing — a total of 120. Its actual loss
was 2 enlisted men, Corporal Benjamin of Co. C and Victor
Goodrich of Co. F, killed ; ' 1 officer, Captain Todd of Brattle-
boro who received a ball through the throat,3 and 34
enlisted men wounded ; 3 and 1 officer, Captain J. T. Drew, of
Burlington,4 and 30 enlisted men missing, all of them being
captured — a total of 68.
1 Victor Goodrich was a young man of 23, from Roxbury, a blacksmith
by trade, and a general favorite with his comrades, one of whom says that
just before leaving camp at Bush Hill, Goodrich mounted a box and began
to dance, saying "Boys, I am going to have one more good dance and
it may be my last one." Such it proved to be. He fell soon after the firing
began, his head pierced by a musket ball which passed through it from
ear to ear. His body was left where he fell.
2 Capt. Todd was the youngest captain in the line. He resigned in
January, 1862 ; but subsequently enlisted in the Eleventh Vermont, and
served through the war. He was again wounded at the Battle of Win-
chester.
3 Killed. Corp. R. H. Benjamin, Co. C; Victor Goodrich, Co. G.
Wounded. Sergeant Major William Guinan, hand. Co. A — A. J.
ISToyes, thigh; — -cheek. Co. B— J. Bolton, thigh; W. Gifford,
hand ; A. S. Howard, Edward Knox, P. Lloyd, J. McKean, John Streeter.
C0. C— Capt. E. A. Todd, throat; Corp. C. B. Rice, leg; Corp. E. L.
Keables, face ; E. P. Gilson, M. K. Pratt, arm, amp. Co. D— John Gow-
ing, foot ; A. Hill, leg ; S. Leger, arm ; E. Murphy, head. Co. E— G. W.
Pierce, Co. F-T. Clury, head, slight; C. Harran, hip- H. Stearns. Co.
G— J. H. Bell, slight ; W. L. Jones, slight ; F. Nelson, slight. Co. H—
Sergeant TJ. A. Woodbury, arm, amp.; N. Dunbar, arm; George Streeter,
leg. Co. I— H. K. Austin, T. J. Jaquish, J. Leonard, arm; H. Tole.
Co. K — A. Lawrence, James Walker.
4 Capt. Drew had been ill for several days before the battle ; but fol-
lowed the regiment to the field, with the assistance of a field officer of an-
other regiment, who placed him for a time on his horse. Being helpless
from vomiting and weakness he was taken into one of the hospitals near
the field. From this after a short rest, he started again for the field, met
the regiment on the retreat, was assisted along the road by two or three of
the Vermont boys, and finally placed by them in an ambulance, which was
overtaken by the rebel cavalry. He was carried to Richmond, spent nearly
13 months in rebel prisons, came home with shattered health, resigned in
October, 1862, and subsequently served in the Invalid Reserve Corps.
84 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Of the 31 men captured, 21 were wounded and three, Cor-
poral Keables and E. P. Gilson of Co. C, and John Gow-
ing of Co. D., died of their wounds in Richmond. The sur-
vivors of the rank and file were paroled and released,
after six months' imprisonment, in the following January.
The colors were brought from the field, riddled with bul-
lets and torn by a shell. It is well to remember that the
panic in which the Vermonters shared was, at worst, no
greater than history has recorded of veteran troops at Wa-
terloo, Solferino, and other famous battles; that the nearly
equal numbers of killed and wounded of the two armies
shows that on the whole the battle was fought, until the
retreat began, with equal courage on the two sides ; and
that while their victory was a complete one, the Confederates
did not know it, till they learned it from Washington.1
Colonel Whiting, in his fragmentary report, says of his
regiment that " officers and men exhibited the utmost cool-
ness and bravery in the presence of the enemy." This is
also the testimony of their brigade commander. Eesponding
to an address from the non-commissioned officers of the
Second Vermont, on the occasion of the departure of the re-
giment from his command, Colonel Howard said : " I remem-
ber you on the march, before the 21st of July, at Sangsters,
at Centreville, and on that memorable day at Bull Run. I
often speak of your behaviour on that occasion. Cool and
stea'dy as regular troops, you stood on the brow of that hill
and fired your thirty-six rounds, and retired only at the
command of your Colonel." Colonel Howard could not say
as much for any other regiment of his brigade. The Second
,J " You will not fail to remember," wrote Jefferson Davis to General
Beauregard, August 4, 1861, " that so far from knowing that the enemy
was routed, a large part of our forces was moved by you, in the night of the
21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right ; and the next day's opera-
tions did not fully reveal what has since been reported of the enemy's
panic." Official Records, Vol, II, p. 508.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 85
Vermont really did most of the fighting that was done by
Howard's brigade, which General Heintzleman says "for
some time gallantly held the enemy in check." It went as
far to the front and fought as long as any Union troops ; and
there was testimony from the other side that it did good
execution. 1
Among the incidents of the battle, the good conduct of
the surgeons is worthy of mention. Surgeon Ballou estab-
lished his hospital in a cooper's shop, near Sudley Church,
where he performed several amputations and was efficient in
care of the wounded till our army had left the field, when
taking some wounded men in an ambulance, he followed the
retreating army with them till the ambulance broke down,
after which, as he could be of no more service, he made his
escape on foot.
Assistant Surgeon Carpenter was detached from the
regiment, by order of a superior officer, before the battle,
and stationed at a small house on the turnpike, in charge of
a number of sick and disabled men. All of these who could
walk, joined the retreat. Dr. Carpenter then posted himself
in the road, pistol in hand, halted every wagon that came
along, and when he could not persuade compelled the un-
willing drivers to take in one or more of his sick and wounded
men, till all were taken. He then, in company with a surgeon
of another regiment, followed the column to Centreville.
The men thus assisted never forgot the service rendered them
by the resolute young Yermont surgeon.
Of the many other incidents of the battle one only can
be narrated here.
1 " We found a Richmond newspaper at Vienna, (Va.,) and it stated
that the Vermont 2d regiment was cut all to pieces [at the Battle of Bull
Run,] all but twenty men. It said the Vermont soldiers were the best the
unionists had, and congratulated the rebels on having killed us all off, be-
cause almost every shot of ours was sure to kill a man."— Letter from Cap.
tain Solon Eaton, October, 1861. .
86 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
When the regiment was inspected for muster into the
service, a young man who had enlisted while a student in
the Fairfax, (Yt.) Theological Seminary, named John C.
Thayer, was rejected, on account of a stiff wrist. There-
upon, as he could not go out as a fighting man, he accom-
panied the regiment as a company cook. He was left in
camp when the regiment marched across Bull Run and list-
ened to the sound of the battle till he could stay behind no
longer, when, obtaining a musket from a disabled soldier, he
started for the field. On the retreat he was overtaken on
the turnpike by a troop of Confederate cavalry. An officer
separated himself from his company, and spurred his horse
towards young Thayer, with a summons to surrender. The
answer was a shot from the Vermonter's musket. His assail-
ant fell dead from his horse, and Thayer took from his body
his sword, sash and field glass, and made good his escape,
with four bullet holes through his blue blouse. He returned
to Yermont soon after, taking his trophies with him.1
The good service rendered by Yermonters in this battle
was not confined to the Second Yermont regiment. A gal-
lant son of Yermont, Captain E. E. Platt, Second U. S.
Artillery, was in command that day of two sections of
artillery, which repulsed a formidable demonstration
made about five o'clock p. M., against the left of the Union
position. This was made by Jones's brigade of South
Carolina and Mississippi troops, which crossed Bull Run at
Blackburn's Ford after the retreat of the Union right and
centre, and advancing up a ravine nearly gained a command-
ing position on the flank of Miles's division before it was
discovered that they were not Union troops. Major Henry
Colonel Radford, Thirtieth Virginia Cavalry, who led the Cavalry
pursuit along the turnpike, mentions the death of Lieutenant B» H.
Bowles, who he says, was separated from his company during a charge,
and killed. This may have been the Cavalry officer who was shot by
Thayer.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 87
J. Hunt, afterwards the able chief of artillery of the Army of
the Potomac, commanding the artillery at that point, made
hasty disposition of Platt's guns and two rifled pieces, and as
the Confederate column emerged from the ravine it was re-
ceived, says Hunt, "with a perfect storm of canister." "No
troops," he adds, " could stand it, and the enemy broke and
fled in every direction, taking refuge in the woods and
ravines ; and in less than fifteen minutes not a single man.
could be seen on the ground which had so recently swarmed
. with them. The infantry regiments had not found it necessary
to fire a single shot." ] General Hunt always attached ex-
treme importance to Platt's vigorous cannonade.
Another gallant son of Vermont, Colonel Israel B. Richard-
son, commanded the brigade which moved "in good order"
last along the Centreville ridge that night, and covered the
retreat of the Union army.
After an hour's rest at Centreville the weary men of
Howard's brigade were roused and marched, the Second
Vermont bringing up the rear, to Fairfax Court House. They
lay there till day light, and then continued their retreat to
Alexandria.
The regiment was quartered on the night of the 22d in
1 Report of Major Hunt, Vol II, Official Records.
The following is an. extract from a letter addressed to Colonel Platt
by General Hunt, after the close of the war : "At Bull Run, July 21, 1861,
the attack on our left near Blackburn's Ford, made by D. R. Jones's
brigade, assisted by a portion of Longstreet's and Rone's cavalry, was
repulsed by the artillery. This artillery consisted of your battery of four
Napoleons, and a section of Edwards's Rifle Battery. The fighting was at
close range. You used only canister, and the enemy was promptly de-
feated and put to flight. This was due principally, if not entirely, to your
guns, and its immediate effect was, as stated by the enemy, to throw
Jones back across the river ; to cause a suspension of the pursuit of our
right ; and to cause Ewell who had crossed at Union Mills and was moving
to Centreville, to retrace his steps and hurry to Blackburn's Ford. Centre-
ville was thus saved, and by its safety secured the retreat of our army, and
I do not hesitate to say, saved Washington from capture by the rebels.
* * * That success was due mainly to the battery under your command.
88 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the city market building of Alexandria, and remained there
till the 25th, when it moved back to its old camp at Bush
Hill.1 Arriving there the men stacked arms and lay down on
the ground, not in a cheerful condition of mind or body.
Many of the weaker men were sick from exhaustion. All were
without tents or overcoats, and many without knapsacks
or blankets, and there was no uniformity of arms, many
of the men having changed their guns for others picked up
on the retreat. There was also a lack of confidence in their
regimental commander, on the part of a considerable portion
of the regiment, which ripened later into a serious contro-
versy. The process of recuperation, however, began at once.
The regiment shared the revival of confidence following the
appointment of General McClellan to the command of the
Army, and the establishment of stricter discipline. Colonel
Whiting was active in efforts to restore the equipment and
morale of the regiment, and a report that new Enfield rifles
would soon be distributed did much to cheer the men.
On the 6th of August the regiment was reviewed by Gen-
eral McDowell, and complimented on its "good condition."
Night alarms were frequent at this time, and the men
repeatedly fell into line in the darkness and stood under
arms till dawn, to discover that it was only a scare on tLe
part of some of the more excitable troops around them.2
About this time the disaffection towards Colonel Whiting
came distinctly to the surface ; and as it became serious
enough to be brought to the attention of the Legislature of
1 As indicating the demoralized condition of the regiment it may 1 e
mentioned that it took Lieutenant Colonel Stannard, who was in command,
Colonel Whiting having gone on to Washington, nearly two hours to get
the regiment into line, for the march to Bush Hill.
2 One night a German orderly, of a Pennsylvania regiment, rode into
camp, shouting loudly: "Turn out your long rolls!" Another night a
trembling, (or perhaps only shivering), aid summoned the Colonel to make
ready to receive an immediate attack, as the rebels were moving on him "in
three columns." The columns did not appear, however.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 89
Vermont by formal resolution 2 it requires notice in this
history. The trouble really began at the first organization of
the regiment, in dissatisfaction with the Governor's selection
of a man who was not a Vermonter, nor in any way known
to the people of Vermont, for the command. But the jeal-
ousies thus aroused were not shared by many, and would
probably have been soon overcome by one who, to the many
excellent qualities possessed by Colonel Whiting, had added
the characteristic of personal bravery. This, it must be
admitted, was not conspicuous in him. He meant to do his
duty; but not to expose himself any more than was
necessary. The men discovered this in the battle, and in
various newspaper letters and articles, he was distinctly
charged with showing the white feather at Bull Run.
On the 12th of August Colonel Whiting preferred formal
charges against Major Joyce, charging him with violating the
army regulations by writing a letter to the Burlington Times,
"the object of which," the specification stated, "was the
praise of many, but especially the censure of Colonel Whiting"
and with "publishing a malicious falsehood in stating that he
(Joyce) at Whiting's request gave the order to advance
against the enemy, to the regiment, and saw it executed,
when in fact the order referred to was given by Colonel
Whiting and executed by him."
Pending trial on these charges, Major Joyce was ordered
under arrest, having the liberty of the camp only. The
Major was popular with the regiment, and had the sympathy
of the larger part of the line officers and of many of the
men. A paper requesting Colonel Whiting to resign the
command of the regiment was drawn up and signed by a
2 A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives, Nov.
12th, 1861, to the effect that the officers and soldiers of the Second Regi-
ment do not generally repose that confidence in their commander, Colonel
Whiting, which is necessary to their usefulness;— and that he be respect-
fully requested to tender his resignation as Colonel.
90 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
majority of the commissioned officers. The staff and a few
line officers declined to sign the paper,1 and the Lieutenant
Colonel and Surgeon united in a guarded letter to Gov-
ernor Fairbanks, in which they attributed the reports
prejudicial to Colonel Whiting, to the statements of a non-
commissioned officer who had been reproved by the Colonel
for drunkenness, and expressed surprise that such reports
against an officer whose conduct had been approved by his
brigade and division commanders, should have been taken up
by the press. The Colonel was not without other defenders,
and Colonel Howard's statement that Colonel Whiting was
at his post when the first line of the brigade of which the
Second Yermont was a part, began firing,2 was published.
But while these statements tended to quiet the public
clamor, and satisfied the Vermont Members of Congress, who
looked into the matter, that the case was not one requiring
executive interference, the disaffection with Colonel Whiting
was not so easily abated.
Major Joyce, in a written communication, expressed
regret that he had written the portions of his published
letter which he had discovered to be in violation of the
army rules, and withdrew the same ; but he remained under
arrest till the 23d of September, when General Smith re-
leased him, the order saying it was difficult to get a general
court martial assembled, and that the General "deemed that
Major Joyce had been kept sufficiently long in arrest to
satisfy the ends of justice." The news spread quickly through
the camp, and the regiment turned out and greeted the
major, on his return to duty, with three times three cheers.
Early in August, the Third Vermont regiment having
been raised and sent to Washington, and the immediate
1 This was never presented to the Colonel.
2 " Colonel Whiting was at his post when I left for the second line, and
I refer to his report, for notice of his field and other officers. They were
not wanting."— Report of Colonel O. O. Howard, Official Records.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 91
recruiting of two more three years regiments having been
ordered, General W. F. Smith formed the purpose of making
a Vermont brigade of the four regiments thus raised and to
be raised. In pursuance of this plan the Second, regiment
was detached from Howard's brigade, and ordered to move
to Camp Lyon, on the heights in Georgetown commanding
the "Chain Bridge" across the Potomac, where the Third
Vermont had now been stationed for two weeks. The Second
moved thither on Monday August 12th, taking cars to Alex-
andria, and went into camp between the camps of the Third
Vermont and Sixth Maine. The change to the higher ground
and purer air of the Georgetown heights was favorable to
the health of the men. The rations improved in quality ; the
quartermaster procured supplies of new shoes, shirts and
stockings, which were much needed. Skirmish drill and
target practice were added to the company and battalion
drills, and the regiment improved rapidly in general con-
dition. On the 20th of August the regiment was sent twelve
miles up the river, to Great Falls, to guard the fords, and
remained there five days, when it returned to Camp Lyon.
The men spent a good deal of work in making their camp
comfortable, and had got it into excellent shape, when orders
came to leave it.
In the first week in September General McClellan began
to occupy the portions of Virginia within sight of the dome
of the Capitol, and on the 3rd General Smith's brigade, con-
sisting of the Second and Third Vermont, the Thirty-third
New York, and a battery, was moved across Chain Bridge, to
occupy positions selected for the sites of extensive fortifica-
tions to be erected on the Virginia side of the Potomac. The
march was made at night, with as much caution as if in
presence of the enemy. Moving out a mile from the Bridge,
on the Leesburg pike, the brigade encamped in a hickory
grove. To this camp the somewhat formidable title of
" Camp Advance " was given, under the impression that the
92 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
movement meant a spsedy advance upon Richmond. Ex-
changing muskets for picks and shovels, the men now had
pretty steady fatigue duty, at first in the erection of earth-
works for .their own protection, and afterwards in tlie con-
struction of Forts Ethan Allen and Marcy, which were to
guard the approaches to Chain Bridge.
On the 10th of September, while at work in the trenches
of what was to be Fort Ethan Allen, the Yermonters had
a new sensation, in a visit from President Lincoln, who
was accompanied by General McClellan. Very few of them
had ever seen Mr. Lincoln, and to all it was the first sight of
the new commander of the army. Hundreds of the men
improved the opportunity to shake hands with the dis-
tinguished visitors. The soldierly bearing of General
McClellan was especially approved ; and not a man doubted
that under him the expected advance would be a march to
certain victory.
Details for picket duty were frequent, and as seces-
sionists and confederate scouts were plenty outside the lines
this service was not without danger. Private William E.
Snow, of Company H, was shot on picket and died from his
wounds, in the enemy's hands, on the llth of September.
The occurrence was not discovered by his comrades at the
time ; and one of the mournful contingencies of army life was
exemplified by the fact that his name stood for years on
the record as that of a deserter, instead of as a good soldier,
who gave his life to the discharge of his duty.
On the llth Companies A, Captain Walbridge, and F,
Captain Randall, which had been detached from the regiment
a week previous and stationed with a section of Mott's
Battery as an outpost on the Leesburg pike, formed part of
a force sent out by General Smith to Lewinsville, a little
hamlet consisting of a church and three and four houses, five
miles west of Chain Bridge, to reconnoitre. They supported
Griffin's battery during an artillery duel with Eosser's Con-
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 93
federate battery, and were complimented by Captain Griffin
for their steadiness.1
On the 20th 150 recruits, enlisted by officers of the regi-
ment who had been despatched to Vermont soon after the
battle of Bull Eun, arrived at Camp Advance and were
distributed among the companies, bringing up the aggregate
of the regiment to about a thousand men.
Scouting parties were frequently sent out, one or two of
which had the excitement of exchanging shots with the
Confederate cavalry pickets.
On the 24th the camp of the regiment was moved out
about a mile toward Lewinsville ; but the chief work of the
regiment continued to be fatigue duty, in the construction of
the ramparts of Fort Ethan Allen. This was a large fort,
covering six acres, and intended to mount fifty guns. Its
construction involved an immense amount of hard labor,
the larger share of which was borne by the Yermonters and
was recognized by General McClellan, by giving it the name
of Vermont's Revolutionary hero.2 By the same order, an
earthwork near the Georgetown reservoir, also built by the
Vermonters, was designated as " Battery Vermont."
September 25th, the regiment formed part of a column
of 5,000 men, with which General Smith made an unresisted
reconnoissance to Lewinsville. On the night of September
28th, the regiment participated in a night expedition, which
resulted, as such expeditions so often did in the early part
of the war, in a collision between Union troops in the dark-
ness. It received little public notice, and is alluded to, rather
than described, in the official reports ; but it was really a
more serious affair than the more famous one on the night
march to Big Bethel. The force detailed comprised half a
1 A fuller account of this reconnoissance is given in the history of the
Third Regiment, in Chapter VII.
2 General Order No. 18, Army of the Potomac, September 30, 1861.
94 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
dozen regiments, among which were the Second and Third
Vermont, and numbered about 5,000 men under the command
of General W. S. Hancock, now coming into notice as a bri-
gade commander under General William F. Smith. It was in-
tended to surprise the Confederate outpost at Munson's Hill,
and to occupy that point, from which the rebel flag so long
floated in plain sight from the Capitol of the Union. The col-
umn started about nine o'clock in the evening, the night being
cloudy and dark, and was passing through some woods about
four miles out, about midnight, when the Seventy First
Pennsylvania regiment, at the head of the column, was fired
on by a portion of the Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry, known
as the "Cameron Dragoons," which had been sent out in
advance of the infantry, and, missing their way in the dark-
ness, had come by a roundabout way back upon the Union
column, which they took for a Confederate force, sent to
meet them. The firing alarmed the whole command, and was
followed by a second similar collision, in which a portion of
the Sixty Ninth Pennsylvania fired into the Seventy First
Pennsylvania, which returned the fire. Among the features
of the affair was a stampede of artillery horses, which clashed
through and over some of the infantry, injuring a number of
men, and a skirmish between several of the frightened dra-
goons and some men of the Second Vermont, the former firing
into the latter, who returned the fire, killing one and wound-
ing another of the dragoons. In all nine men were killed
and twenty-five wounded in this unfortunate affair. The Ver-
mont troops, however, escaped with nothing worse than
bruises. After order was restored, the column halted till
daylight, when most of the regiments marched back to their
camps. The Second Vermont remained, by General Han-
cock's orders, and bivouacked on Vanderwerker's farm, three
miles from their camp, for two days, when, information hav-
ing been meantime received of the evacuation of Falls Church
and Munson's and Upton's Hills by the Confederate forces
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 95
stationed there, which had quietly withdrawn while the
Federal regiments were firing into each other, the regiment
returned to camp.
Among the results of this affair, was the most extensive
case of discipline that ever occurred in the history of the
regiment. When the order to fall in was given on the evening
of September 28th, Lieutenant Phillips of Company F and
a detail of about 100 men, who had just come in from picket
duty, acting on the theory that volunteers were not obliged
to regard orders which did not seem to them reasonable,
ignored the command and remained in their tents. Their
absence from the ranks was not discovered by Colonel Whit-
ing till the next forenoon, when he also learned that one of
his captains had gone back to camp, with a number of his
company, without orders. Charges were thereupon preferred
against all concerned in this breach of discipline. The non-
commissioned officers and privates, to the number of one hun-
dred and fifty, were tried by regimental court martial, and sen-
tenced, the former to be reduced to the ranks and the latter to
fines and the guard house. Captain Eandall and Lieutenant
Phillips were placed under arrest, and in December following,
by sentence of court martial, the Captain was suspended
from duty for thirty days, and the Lieutenant dismissed the
service.
During the last week of September, the men were cheered
by the arrival of the Fourth and Fifth Yermont regiments,
which went into camp close by them ; but in other respects
their condition was not cheerful. They needed their lost
overcoats in the autumn fogs and chilly nights. The cold
rain storms beat through their old and thin tents, and their
uniforms, faded by the summer sun and worn with fatigue
duty, matched their thin faces. About this time partial sup-
plies of army clothing were secured from the Government,
and the army blue began to mingle with the gray in the
ranks ; but the supply was insufficient, for the Government
96 YEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
had more men to clothe than it had uniforms, and the sick
roll became large before the needs of the men were supplied.
On the 10th of October a further short advance into
"Virginia was made by General Smith's division, now num-
bering upwards of 13,000 men of all arms, which was slowly
edging out to the front. As a part of this advance,
the Second Yermont, with the other Vermont regiments,
moved out four miles to Johnson's Hill, near Lewinsville,
and established the camp called Camp Griffin, after the gal-
lant commander of Griffin's Light Battery. Here they re-
mained for five months.
On the 17th of October, Lieutenant Colonel Stannard
with four companies of the Second and a company of cavalry,
made a reconnoissance to Yienna, five miles distant, finding
that the Confederate force stationed there up to the previous
night had fallen back to Fairfax Court House.
The destitution of the troops as regarded clothing be-
came more serious as the season advanced. October 21st,
General Smith informed Governor Fairbanks by telegraph,
that the men of the Second and Third regiments were suffer-
ing for want of clothing, and that 850 coats, 1,500 pairs of
pantaloons, and 100 tents were needed at once to make the
men comfortable. This was followed by a communication to
the Yermont Legislature, then in session, signed by Colonel
Whiting and by nearly all the officers of the regiment, certi-
fying that the men of the Second regiment had been suffer-
ing since the middle of September for want of sufficient
clothing and tents and that the supply obtainable from the
government fell far short of the present wants, and
asking the Legislature to furnish the needed supplies. Quar-
termaster General Davis was at once despatched by the
Governor to Washington and Camp Griffin, and on his return
reported that the general government had partially supplied
the regiment and would do so fully as soon as possible.
Furthermore, that the war department preferred to furnish
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 97
all supplies itself, since the presence of both the State and
general governments as purchasers of army goods in the
market would tend to enhance prices and make needless em-
barrassment to both. The State authorities of Vermont,
though anxious to do their utmost to provide for the wants
of the Vermont troops, acquiesced in the views of the war
department. The latter gradually provided the needed sup-
plies ; and by the last of October the regiment was in a fair
condition as regarded health, clothing, equipment and dis-
cipline.
During the month of October the Third, Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth Vermont regiments arrived at Camp Griffin, and
the first Vermont brigade was fully organized. With that
noble brigade the Second regiment now became identified,
and in the history of that brigade, to be related in subsequent
chapters, the history of the regiment will be largely embodied-
Some episodes and incidents belonging exclusively to the
regiment, will, however, properly have place in this regimental
record.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SECOND REGIMENT, CONTINUED.
Controversy between Colonel Whiting and the State Authorities — The
Peninsula Campaign — Promotions and Changes of Officers — The Seven
Days' Retreat— Maryland Campaign of 1863— First Fredericksburg
— Resignation of Colonel Whiting — Sketch of Colonel Walbridge —
Second Fredericksburg and Salem Heights — Second Maryland Cam-
paign— A month in New York — Return to Virginia— Capture of Quart-
termaster Stone — Execution of deserters — Winter at Brandy Station —
Resignation of Colonel Walbridge— Sketch of Colonel Stone — The
Wilderness Campaign — Death of Colonels Stone and Tyler — Losses
of Officers and Men— End of Three Years' Term— General Neill's
Farewell order — Movements with the Sixth Corps — In the Shenandoah
Valley — Back to Petersburg — Close of the War — Return Home.
On the 9th of November, the regiment, with a company
of Pennsylvania cavalry and two field pieces, under Colonel
Whiting, made an unopposed reconnoissance to Peacock Hill,
four miles north of Vienna. On the 14th of November, the
Second was selected, with three other regiments, to hold
the position occupied by General Smith's division, while the
rest of the division took part in the grand parade and review
by General McClellan.
During the months of November and December, a some-
what noteworthy controversy arose between Colonel Whiting
and the State authorities. Several vacancies having occurred
in the line by the resignations of Captain Burnham, Co. H.
Lieutenants W. W. Henry,1 Co. D. and S. W. Parkhurst'
1 The departure of Lieutenant Henry, who resigned in consequence of
serious pulmonary trouble, was universally regretted. His health having
become restored, he returned to the service ten months later, as Major of
the Tenth Vermont.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 99
Co. L, and others, Colonel Whiting forwarded various re-
commendations for promotions and appointments to the
Governor. In view of the fact that company officers some-
times found it difficult to secure obedience from men who
were their neighbors and equals at home, the Colonel, in
making his list, had made it a point to transfer officers from
one company to another. This did not meet the approval of
Governor Holbrook, who had recently succeeded to the
Governorship. Adjutant General Washburn informed Colonel
"Whiting that the principle of appointments of line officers, as
opposed to the elective system in vogue in the State militia,
was at variance with the constitution and statutes of the State
of Vermont. As the regiments were now in the service of the
United States, the State authorities would, however, treat the
regulations of the War Department as modifying those of the
State. Yet the Governor would require that all recommenda-
tions for appointments of commissioned officers be made by
a majority of the field officers ; that in case of an appoint-
ment of a lieutenant, the concurrence of the captain of
the company should be obtained ; and that when transfers
from one company to another were recommended, it should be
shown that the transfers were approved by " the subordinates
of the company." Colonel Whiting replied that he recognized
his obligation to meet the approval of his superiors ; but that
to submit his recommendations to his inferiors in rank and
even to "subordinates" in the ranks, while in the field, was
utterly without precedent in all military history ; and that he
could not waive his rank as commander of the regiment, nor
consent to solicit the approval of the subalterns ; nor
could he be responsible for the discipline of the regiment " if
the head was to be in the tail." The point was obvious, and
the State authorities saw it. The Governor replied that while
it was something of a question to what extent the rules of
the regular army ought to be applied to volunteer troops
largely composed of men of property, education and stands
100 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
ing, all that he required was that some good reasons should
be adduced when promotions out of the regular order were
recommended. As to obtaining the views of the subalterns
he advised that they be consulted when they could be " with
propriety." This was more than Colonel Whiting would yield.
He declined to modify his recommendations or to submit
further statement of his reasons therefor, and his recommen-
dations were accordingly hung up in the Adjutant General's
office, for some time. The muddle was finally ended by the
granting of a leave of absence to the Colonel, to visit his
home in Michigan. During his absence, his recommenda-
tions were renewed by Lieutenant Colonel Stannard, com-
manding, with such representations as made them satisfactory
to the Governor and Adjutant General, and the commissions
were issued. The controversy had the effect of settling the
system of recommendations and appointments, in the only
way in which it could be settled ; and thereafter, the recom-
mendations of colonels in the field, for appointments and
promotions in their commands, were, as a rule, approved by
the Governors, without dispute.
During the month of November the men were supplied
with overcoats and other needed clothing ; the health of the
regiment improved ; and throughout the winter the Second
was conspicuous among the regiments of the brigade for its
comparatively small sick list, due in part perhaps to the
more healthful location of its camp, and in part no doubt to
the excellent care oaken of the men by its colonel and his
medical staff. About the middle of December the regimental
band was disbanded. Its members had become sick of camp
life, and were discharged from the service by order of the
Secretary of War.
The regiment passed an uneventful winter, improving
steadily in drill and in morale. The disaffection with the
colonel almost died away ; and in March a notable indica-
tion of the respect and confidence of the rank and file was
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 101
extended to him by the presentation of a handsome
sword, with double scabbard, belt, sash, pistols, saddle and
horse equipments, suitably encased and inscribed.1
When the spring campaign of 1862 opened, the regiment
broke camp, March 10th, and marched with the brigade and
with McClellan's army to Alexandria, went thence by trans-
ports to Fortress Monroe, and took its part in the first
Peninsula campaign of the Army of the Potomac.
At Lee's Mill, April 16th, where the other regiments of
the brigade received their first baptism of blood, the Second
^was held back as a support, and lost but two men.2
On the 30th of April, one of the most important recon-
noissances made by General McClellan before the evacuation
of Yorktown, was conducted by the Second
April 30, 1862.
regiment. It was sent, under command of
Lieutenant Colonel Stannard — Colonel Whiting being en-
gaged on a court martial — to reconnoitre some works which
the enemy was supposed to be strengthening below the dams
of the Warwick Kiver. Colonel Stannard threw out A., I., and
B. companies as skirmishers, who met the enemy's pickets
and drove them back half a mile to the cover of their rifle
pits. In this skirmish three men were killed.8 The enemy
beat the long roll and two or three Confederate regiments
marched out and deployed in line of battle ; but it was not
Stannard's purpose to bring on an engagement, and having
gained the needed information he withdrew without further
loss.
The regiment was with the brigade at Williamsburg, and
1 The sword bore the inscription: " Presented to Colonel H. Whiting
by the Privates of the Second Regiment, Vt. Vols. Fiat Justitia."
2 William Fuller of Co. F. , killed outright by a piece of shell, and John
H. Savory, Co. B. , mortally wounded. He died of his wound two days after.
3 All of Co. A. Louis Wood was killed outright by a bullet, L. M.
Towsley was mortally wounded, and Lucius Carpenter, who with another
man went to bring in Wood's body, was killed while stooping over the body
of his dead comrade.
102 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
did its share of marching and digging and picket duty on
the march toward Richmond and in the operations on the
Chickahominy, which occupied the months of May and June,
1862.
During the spring and early summer of 1862, some im-
portant changes of field and staff officers took place. In
April, Quartermaster Pitkin, having been promoted to be
captain and A. Q. M. of volunteers, left the regiment, to the
general regret, for a new field of duty, and Quartermaster's
Sergeant Lauriston L. Stone succeeded him as quartermaster.
On the 21st of May, Lieutenant Colonel Stannard was ap-
pointed colonel of the Ninth, then in process of recruiting,,
and returned to Vermont to assist in the organization of that
regiment. His departure was a serious loss to the Second
regiment ; for he had the confidence of officers and men, and
had shown himself a capable and trusty commander during
the prolonged absences of Colonel "Whiting upon military
commissions and court martials. Major Joyce was promoted
to the lieutenant colonelcy, and Captain Walbridge, the rank-
ing captain in the line, became major. On the 21st of June,
Assistant Surgeon Carpenter was appointed surgeon of the
Ninth Yermont ; but he remained with the Second through
the Seven Days' Eetreat, when he left to assume his new
position. He had become endeared to the men by his faithful
care, especially during the sickly time on the Chickahominy ;
while his coolness in danger — notably in the surprise and
sudden cannonade at White Oak Bridge, where he was active
in rallying the men when some in more responsible positions
were seeking the shelter of friendly trees — gave him an
added title to their respect. His departure was universally
regretted in the regiment, and indeed throughout the brigade.
On the 8th of July, Chaplain Smith resigned and de-
parted. He was succeeded in August by Rev. D. W. Dayton,
a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, of high character, who
held the office of chaplain for five months.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 103
That the regiment was in excellent condition at this time,
as regards drill and appearance, is indicated by the fact
that it was selected to represent the Vermont brigade on
the 9th of June, in a review of a portion of General Smith's
division by the Spanish General Prim,1 who was accompanied
by the Count De Paris, of General McClellan's staff, General
Smith, and General W. T. H. Brooks. The troops reviewed
consisted of one regiment from each brigade of General
Smith's division.
The regiment had its share of hardship during the
Seven Days' Ketreat, and lost five men killed and 38 wounded
at Savage's Station, June 29th.a At the storming of Cramp-
ton's Gap, September 14th, the regiment had one man
wounded. At Antietam, September 17th, the regiment lost
one man killed 3 and several wounded.
On the llth of October, when General J. E. B. Stuart,
with a force of 2000 Confederate cavalry, was for the second
time riding round McClellan's army, the regiment, under
command of Lieutenant Colonel Joyce,4 was, with the Fifth
Vermont, detached from the brigade — which was at Hagers-
town, Md., with the Sixth Corps — and sent by rail to
Chambersburg, Pa., to head off Stuart, who had occupied the
town, destroyed some public property, and had left on his
winding way before they started. They remained there,
1 Commander of the troops sent by Spain to Mexico, under the British,
French and Spanish convention of October 31 , 1861.
2 The men killed at Savage's Station were George Ballard, Co. B ;
William W. Clark, Co. C ; Adam Smith, Co. E ; Freeman Hunter and Cal-
vin Clair, Co* K. Three others died of their wounds, viz: Henry K. Good-
win, musician, Co. E; Stephen Anderson, Co. F; and Curtis B.Moore,
Co. G. Thirty-nine men were reported missing at the close of the Seven
Days' Retreat. Of these 25 were wounded men, captured at Savage's
Station. The rest fell out on the march and subsequently rejoined their
companies.
3 William Lecor of Co. A.
4 Colonel Whiting being absent on leave.
104 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
doing guard duty, for about a week, and then rejoined the
brigade at Hagerstown: Two weeks later the regiment
marched, with the army, back to Virginia, and went with the
Sixth Corps to Acquia Creek, where on the 3d of December,
the Second was detached from the brigade for a week, to
guard the military telegraph line. It joined the brigade at
Belle Plain, Ya., on the 10th of December. On the 13th of
December, in Burnside's hopeless attempt to force the heights
of Fredericksburg, the Second was deployed with the
Fourth Vermont on the skirmish line of
Dec. 13, 1862. , . .
General Howe s division of the Sixth corps
— which was a portion of the Left Grand Division of the
Army — and after crossing the river, held the crest of a
hill near the spot where the Richmond Stage-road crosses
Deep Run. The skirmish line was pretty constantly engaged
during the day, and until nearly dark. The men behaved
well and, though strongly pressed several times, gave no
ground to the enemy. The regiment lost five men killed and
mortally wounded,1 and 54 wounded, during the day-
Before daylight next morning it was relieved by other troops?
on the 15th it re-crossed the river, and on the 19th marched
back to Belle Plain with the brigade. In the report of the
brigade commander, Major Walbridge, commanding the regi-
ment, and acting-Major Tyler were mentioned as deserving
special praise for gallant conduct. A fortnight later, Decem-
ber 29th, the regiment was sent to Belle Plain Landing and
was employed in fatigue dutv, unloading forage and building
roads, for three weeks. It was detached for picket duty,
while the rest of the brigade participated in Burnside's second
unsuccessful attempt to cross the Kappahannock. It rejoined
the brigade on the 22d of January, and remained in camp
1 These were privates E. E. Balch and F. E. Smith, of Company A
and Joseph 8. Hastings, Alonzo E. Moore and Eben E. Whitney, of Com.
pany I.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 105
near White Oak Church, during the remainder of that un-
eventful winter.
Some further important changes of officers occurred dur-
ing the winter. On the 18th of December, Surgeon Ballou
was promoted to the medical directorship of the division, and
was succeeded as surgeon by Assistant Surgeon Sawin.1
On the 6th of January, Lieutenant Colonel Joyce re-
signed under surgeon's advice, and Major Walbridge was
promoted to the vacancy. On the same day Chaplain Day-
ton resigned, and from that time on the regiment was without
a chaplain.
On the 9th of February, Colonel Whiting resigned. He
had long been dissatisfied at the neglect of what he con-
sidered to be his just claim for promotion. The ranking
colonel of the brigade, he had seen General Smith, his junior,
rapidly advanced to the successive commands of the brigade,
division and corps. He considered himself entitled to the
command of the brigade when it was given to General Brooks,
but submitted with good grace. General Brooks in time was
promoted to the command of a division, and the command
of the Vermont brigade devolved on Colonel Whiting, but
still the expected promotion was withheld ; and when finally
Colonel E. H. Stoughton, the youngest colonel in the brigade,
was promoted past him, Colonel Whiting thought it time
to retire. At General Howe's request he postponed action
in the matter for a few weeks and then sent in his resigna-
tion, which was accepted.2
1 Dr. Sawin entered the service in the Tenth Massachusetts Volunteers ;
was transferred from that regiment as a private, in September, 1861, to the
Third Vermont, and from the ranks of that regiment was appointed
assistant surgeon of the Second. He remained surgeon of the Second till
June, 1864, when his term of service expired.
* His letter of resignation was as follows :
CAMP NEAR THE RAPPAHANNOCK, >
Headquarters Second Brigade, Feb. 2, 1863. j
SIR, — Having esteemed it my duty on account of having received a mili-
tary education, to offer my services in this war, and having found that
106 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Colonel Whiting retired to his home in Michigan with
the reputation of a careful and conscientious officer, who
looked faithfully to the welfare of his men and meant to do
his duty. He had survived the early prejudice against him
among his men and carried with him the friendship and best
wishes of many of the officers who at one time signed a peti-
tion requesting him to resign. On his part he held the Yer-
monters under him, with a few individual exceptions, in high
esteem, and never lost his regard for them.1
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Walbridge succeeded to
the colonelcy. He was of patriotic lineage, being the grand-
son of General Ebenezer Walbridge, who was one of the
pioneers in the settlement of Bennington County, active in
the early struggles of Vermont for independence, an officer
of Seth Warner's regiment of Green Mountain Boys in the
campaign against Quebec in 1776, adjutant of the regiment
in the battle of Bennington, and subsequently a colonel and
general of militia, during and after the War of the Revolu-
tion. He followed the sea for several years in his youth and
then went to California, and was employed in the State
though the regiment which I have had the honor to command is admitted
to be one of the best in the service, it having at all times performed all that
has been asked of it, as well as the Second Brigade since I have commanded
it; — it is therefore believed by me that my undertaking has not been a
failure, in point of a full, hearty and effectual service. Still I now find
myself at that point where I have no doubt that it is my duty to resign.
I do therefore hereby resign my commission as Colonel Second Vermont
Infantry, and consequently the command of the Second Brigade. Though
the first colonel mustered into service in the first five Vermont regiments,
I am the only one now holding that office, and of the field and staff of the
first three Vermont regiments I am the only one. I have served an age and
am entitled to an honorable discharge. I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
H. WHITING.
Lieut. Col. E. Mattocks, A. A. G. , 2d Div. , 6th Corps.
1 "With regard to the Vermont troops, I feel like the boy who was
directed to skim the milk, put up the cream and take the milk for his
dinner. He said the cream was good enough for him. So I say the Ver-
mont troops are good enough for me." Letter of Colonel Whiting.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 107
printing office in San Francisco, when, in 1856, the famous
Yigilance Committee was organized to put down ruffianism
and maintain order in that city. Of this he was an active
member, and received his first military training in the drills
by which the committee prepared itself to use arms if neces-
sary. At the outbreak of the civil war, he was at his former
home in Bennington ; was among the first to respond to the
call for three years' men, was chosen captain of his company,
and received the first commission issued in Vermont to an
.officer of a three years' regiment. He had shown himself
cool and efficient in action, and capable in command in the
intermediate grades of rank, and now brought to the colonelcy,
experience, fidelity, and recognized ability. Major Newton
Stone succeeded him as lieutenant colonel and Captain John
S. Tyler, of Co. C., was appointed major.
No other changes of field officers took place till the
vacancies made by the slaughter in the Wilderness, more
than a year later, were filled.
The Winter of 1862-3 and the Spring were occupied in
picket and guard duty and drill, till May brought a resump-
tion of active hostilities, in the Chancellorsville campaign.
In the storming of the heights of Fredericksburg, on the 3d
of May, by Howe's Division, which was so glorious a feature
of that inglorious campaign, the Second, under Colonel Wai-
bridge, was distinguished by its gallantry and its loss.
Though forming part of the second line in the assault, it was
one of the first regiments which gained the crest of Marye's
famous heights and drove the enemy from his works, captur-
ing three guns, and, supported by the Thirty-Third New
York and Seventh Maine, it held the position, with a loss of
11 men killed and 94 wounded, five of them mortally,1
1 The killed were Josiah W. Norcross of Company A ; Robert P.
Lord and George A. Rice of Company C ; Frederick W. Chamberla.u
and Thomas R. Williams of Company E ; Amos N. Bennett, Harry
Hall and Franklin E. Minard of Company F; Sumner E. Parker of
108 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the entire loss of the rest of the brigade being one killed and
15 wounded. Among the severely wounded were Captain
Horace F. Grossman, of Montpelier, Company F, who lost
a leg,1 and Captain A. S. Tracy, of Middlebury, Company H.
In the battle near Banks' Ford, next day, when the Vermont
brigade repulsed superior numbers and covered the crossing
of the Sixth corps, the regiment was again sharply engaged,
and held its ground against repeated assaults, with a loss of
six killed and 20 wounded,2 four of whom died of their
wounds. Among the latter was First Lieutenant F. A.
Gleason of Company C, who died of his wounds May 30th.
Colonel Walbridge and Lieutenant John J. Bain, acting
Aide-de-Camp on Colonel Grant's staff, were especially men-
tioned for gallantry, in Colonel L. A. Grant's official report.
The regiment remained in camp with the brigade at White
Oak Church, for a month, till on the 5th of Juno Howe's
division was again thrown across the Kappahannock in order
to ascertain whether or no General Lee, whose northern
march for the invasion of Pennsylvania had now begun, had
withdrawn the division which had been stationed around
Fredericksburg. The Second crossed the river in pontoon
boats, and advanced with the brigade half a mile beyond the
river, pushing back the enemy ; the latter was found to be
there in force, and the brigade re-crossed the river 48 hours
later, and remained in camp on the eastern side till the 13th,
of Company H ; Philip W. Crosby of Company I ; and Daniel McKinn of
Company K. C. S. Samson of Company A; Patrick Burgin of Company
D ; Truman O. Brown of Company E ; L. K. Harris of Company F ; and
R. M. Worthing of Company H died of their wounds.
1 Captain Crossman's leg was amputated a few days after the engage-
ment. He was honorably discharged, for disability resulting from this
wound, October 30th, 1863.
2 The killed were Madison Cook, Warren Houghton and John M.
Lamphear, of Co. C ; Chauncey L. Church, of Co. G ; William Higgins
and John P. Perry, of Co. K ; D. Hazelton and J. Ryan of Co. G, and
H. E. Soule of Co. H. died of their wounds.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 109
when it started for the north with the Sixth corps. It shared
in the toilsome march over the familiar route through Fairfax
and Centreville, and on through Maryland and to Gettysburg.
In the famous affair with Anderson's Georgia brigade at
Funkstown, Md., on the 10th of July, described in a subse-
quent chapter, the Second took an honorable part and had
one man killed.1
On the 1st of August, the regiment being then in camp
with the brigade near Warrenton, Va., the morning report
showed an aggregate of 801 men, of whom 141 were sick.
The health of the regiment improved rapidly during its
stay at Warrenton. On August 14th the regiment went with
the brigade to New York, to maintain order during the draft,
and after a stay of two weeks in the city was sent by steamer
to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where it remained eight days. It
won high praise from the press and people of both those
cities, for its discipline and good conduct.2 A number of the
officers and men took advantage of their nearness to home at
Poughkeepsie, to send for their wives and families, and many
pleasant family reunions marked their stay in that city.
On the 13th of September the regiment returned to
New York, went thence to Alexandria, where the brigade
concentrated on the 16th, next day marched out to Fair-
fax Court House, and on the 22d joined the Sixth corps
encamped near Culpepper Court House. The Second ac-
companied the brigade in the various marchings and counter-
marchings of the Sixth corps in the region between Bull
1 Corporal Walter J. Kurd, Company K.
2 The appearance of the rank and file of these war-scarred veterans
[of the Second Vermont] as they marched up the street with heavy tread
in the dead of night, was grand and imposing. * * * They have been
on duty in the city of New York during the draft in that district, and their
presence in that city was marked by politeness and orderly conduct. The
citizens among whom they were quartered speak highly of their character
as a regiment, and regret that they left so soon. — Poughkeepsie JSagle, Sept.
6th, 1863.
110 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Eun and the Kappahannock during the month of October.
On the 18th of October, it was marching from Centreville
to Gainesville over the turnpike across which it made its
first advance into battle, and in sight of the slope on which
it met the enemy at the first Bull Kun.
On the 26th, the regiment being then in camp with the
brigade at Warrenton, it had the misfortune to lose its quar-
termaster, who was captured by Mosby, the guerrilla chief-
tain. Quartermaster Stone was near New Baltimore, Va.,
five miles northwest of Warrenton, on his way to camp with
a supply train of twenty wagons, when he was overtaken by
Colonel Mosby with a hundred men of his irregular cavalry.
These were dressed in the Federal army blue, and at first
represented themselves to be a squadron of the Eighteenth
Pennsylvania cavalry. Soon announcing himself, Mosby
made Stone a prisoner, together with his brother, J. P. Stone,
who accompanied him, 1 his cook, trainmaster, blacksmith,
and twenty teamsters. The mules were run off, the train
plundered and destroyed, and a considerable sum in money
belonging to the government, in the quartermaster's posses-
sion, was confiscated by his captor.
The regiment was under artillery fire at Eappahannock
Station on the 7th of November, without loss, and had a
similar experience on the 27th of November, during General
Meade's advance to Mine Eun, south of the Eapidan. On
the 28th, a large part of the regiment was on picket on the
right of the army, near Mine Eun, and all suffered severely
from a cold rain storm. The next night men froze at their
posts.2 The men suffered from exposure, and occasionally
1 Sons of Rev. L. H, Stone of Northfield, the chaplain of the First Ver-
mont. Lieutenant Stone was a prisoner for over 13 months, being finally
exchanged at Charleston, S. C., December 4th, 1864.
2 "Many of the men who were on the picket line that day, [November
30th] and the night before, were found when the relief came around, dead
at their posts, frozen. — Surgeon Stevens, Three Years in the Sixth Corps,
p. 297.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. HI
from hunger during this, the last offensive movement of the
Army of the Potomac in the fall campaign of 1863 ; but came
out of it in better condition than might have been expected.
On the 1st of December the sick numbered 124 in an
aggregate of 934 officers and men, and on the 1st of January,
1864, 110 were on the sick list in an aggregate of 931.
On the 18th of December, the regiment had the novel
and painful experience of witnessing the execution of one
of their number for desertion. He was a young recruit,
named George E. Blowers, who had enlisted three months
previously and had been assigned to Co. A., of the Second
regiment. He and a man of the Fifth Vermont named
John Tague, had been convicted by a General Court Mar-
tial of desertion under aggravated circumstances. That
military crime was becoming frequent and the army
authorities had decided that some examples must be made.
The men were sentenced to be shot to death by musketry,
and the sentence was executed in the presence of the entire
division. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Gen. Howe's divi-
sion was formed in three sides of a hollow square, enclosing
the commanding general and his staff. The prisoners were
brought in in ambulances, guarded by 24 men of the Provost
guard, to whom was entrusted the execution of the sentence.
After the reading by the Asst. Adjutant General of the
division of the findings and sentences of the court martial,
prayer was offered by Chaplain Mack of the Third Vermont ;
the men knelt on their coffins ; and each placing his right
hand over his heart as a signal that he was ready for death,
the muskets rang out at the word of command, and both fell
forward and expired instantly. It was a solemn transaction
and made a deep sensation in the regiment. Blowers was
the only man of the Second Vermont executed for desertion
during the war, though several members of the regiment were
sent to the Dry Tortugas and otherwise punished for the
same offence.
112 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
During the month of December 167 men of the Second
re-enlisted, under an order of the War Department author-
izing (and paying a bounty of $402 for) the re-enlistment of
men having less than one year of the original term of enlist-
ment to serve ; and in the following months of January and
February, 14 more re-enlisted, making a total of 181.
The regiment was in camp with the brigade and the
corps, at Brandy Station, during the winter of 1863-4, with
the exception of five days, from February 27th to March 2d,
during which the Sixth corps wras sent to Madison Court
House, to support General Ouster's cavalry expedition to
Charlottesville, Ya. There was no fighting, but the march back
from Madison Court House in the mud was a trying one. The
winter was on the whole a cheerful and comfortable one, and
the health of the regiment improved, till on the 30th of April,
1864, but 77 men were reported sick, in an aggregate of 941 —
the smallest proportion of sick men ever reported while the
regiment was in the field.
On the 1st of April, Colonel Walbridge, who had been
for some time a sufferer from chronic rheumatism affecting his
lower limbs, resigned, and Lieut. Colonel Newton Stone suc-
ceeded him as colonel.
Colonel Stone was the son of Rev. Ambrose Stone of
Eeadsboro. He had selected the law as his profession
and Bennington as his place of residence and business, and
had before him the prospect of a successful professional
career, when, at the age of 23, he enlisted and went out as
First Lieutenant of Co. A. of the Second Vermont. He had
repeatedly distinguished himself in battle, and reached the
colonelcy by successive promotions through all the interme-
diate ranks. His term of command was brief but glorious,
ending a month later in the murderous Wilderness.
On the 4th of May, 1864, the regiment marched with the
Sixth corps and the army, to take its share of the perils and
glory of General Grant's overland campaign. In the battles of
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 113
the Wilderness, May 5th and 6th, the Second fought with
the old brigade on the left of the Orange Plank-road. It was
on the first day placed in the second line, its right resting on
the Plank-road, but moved forward into the front line, after
the fighting became severe, and did some of the hardest and
best fighting that was done in those two bloody days, at a
fearful cost. Its gallant young commander was killed on the
5th. About five o'clock in the afternoon Colonel Stone re-
ceived a flesh wound in the leg, and was taken to the rear.
As soon as the wound was dressed he called for his horse,
and rode back to the front. The men greeted him with cheers,
as he rejoined his command, which was sturdily holding its
ground under a fearful fire of musketry. He addressed
them as follows : " Well, boys, this is rough work : but I
have done as I told you I wished you to do, not to leave for
a slight wound, but to remain just as long as you can do any
good. I am here to stay as long as I can do any good." He
then rode along the line, speaking a word of cheer to every
company. As he halted to address Company B, a musket ball
entered his head, and he fell from his horse a corpse. When
the regiment was withdrawn to the rear, the enemy pressed
forward over the ground it had held, and Colonel Stone's
body fell into their hands. The enemy again falling back, it
was soon after recovered, and was finally taken to Bennington
for burial.1
After Colonel Stone's death the command devolved upon
Lieutenant Colonel Tyler, a boy in years, but a brave and
capable officer. He did not hold it long, for just before dark,
as he was directing the movement of the regiment to the
position on the Brock Koad which it held at nightfall, a
musket ball passed through his thigh, inflicting a wound
which proved mortal. Though conscious that it was a very
1 General L. A. Grant in his report said of Colonel Stone : " He was a
good officer, gallant by nature, prompt in his duties, and urbane in his man-
ners. He was beloved by his command, and by all who knew him."
114 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
dangerous injury he ordered the men who ran to nelp
him back to the ranks, telling them that every musket was
needed in the line. He was assisted to the rear and taken to
Fredericks burg ; and thence, at his own desire, was removed
to his home in Yermont ; but did not reach it alive. In
recognition of his services and merit a commission as colonel
was issued to him by Governor Smith after his death, and his
name thus stands enrolled among the colonels of the Second.
Colonel Tyler was the son of Eev. Pitman Tyler of
Brattleboro. He enlisted at the age of nineteen years, and
went out as first lieutenant of Company C. He showed
especial gallantry and aptitude for command, and was ad-
vanced as vacancies occurred, through the successive grades
of captain, major and lieutenant colonel. He was barely cf
age at his death. He died in the Metropolitan Hotel in New
York city, May 21st, sixteen days after he was wounded. He
was buried at Brattleboro with military honors.1
In the second day of the battle of the "Wilderness, the
regiment having no field officer left, Major Tracy having been
disabled by injuries received May 3d by a fall from his horse,
it was placed under the capable command of Lieut.
Colonel S. E. Pingree of the Third Yermont, and fought
under him with unabated resolution. The losses of the regi-
1 General L. A. Grant in reporting Colonel Tyler's death said: "He
was an officer of great promise. Always cool, especially in battle, he could
be relied upon. His loss is deeply felt."
In a letter addressed to Hon. Royal Tyler of Brattleboro, Governor
John Gregory Smith said : "As a slight testimonial of my high appreciation
of the services rendered by your nephew, the late John S. Tyler, Lieutenant
Colonel of the Second Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, I have directed a
commission to be issued, dating the same at a period prior to his death, and
promoting him to the colonelcy of his regiment, a position which by his
valor he had so gallantly won, and to which he was justly entitled. The
tribute to his memory thus conferred, while it cannot reach him or add to
his laurels, may be a source of gratification to his numerous friends, as it is
of pleasure to me, and is but a fitting recognition of the noble sacrifice which
he made for his country."
THE SECOND KEGIMENT. 115
ment in this battle, were greater than in any other battle
of the war, and showed both the desperate character of the
service required of it, and the spirit with which it stood up
to its work. Its casualties exceeded those of any other re-
giment in the brigade. They numbered but three less than
300, in a total of about 800 present for duty, or about 37
per cent. Of these 57 were killed and mortally wounded,
208 less severely wounded, and 32 missing — total 297. Hardly
any unwounded men were taken prisoners, and most of the
" missing" belong in the lists of killed and wounded. Among
the killed were Captain Orville Bixby and Sergeant-Major
Z. Ufford, and among the wounded were ten line officers,
—viz : Captains E. Wales, P. E. Chase, D. S. White, E.
G. Ballou and W. H. Cady, and Lieutenants J. P. Sawyer,
James Allen, George Bridgman, E. M. Drury and John
J. Bain, the latter being acting Aid-de-Camp to the
Brigade Commander. Among those captured was Lieut-
enant Henry Carroll, of Co. K. Lieutenant Carroll re-
mained for six months in the enemy's hands till, on the
1st of November 1864, he escaped from the prison at
Columbia, S. C., and made his way to the Union lines
at Nashville, Tenn., after a toilsome foot journey of two
months' duration.1
In the twelve trying days before the lines of Spottsylva-
nia, the Second participated in the hard fighting and almost
harder night and day marching of the old brigade. On the
10th of May it formed a part of the storming column of
twelve picked regiments, which, under Colonel Upton,
charged the enemy's centre, carried the works in front
of them for a quarter of a mile, and captured a brigade
of over a thousand men and a battery. Some of the
men of the Second remained in the works till late in
1 Captain Wales was bre vetted major for gallantry in this battle.
Private Thomas J. Colby, Co. F., served as mounted orderly and re-
ceived honorable mention in General L. A. Grant's official report.
116 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the evening, long after the column had fallen back. It fought
at the famous " bloody angle" on the 12th of May, under the
command of Captain Dayton P. Clarke 1 — the regiment having
no field officer of its own, and Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pin-
gree, its temporary commander, being then in command
of the picket line on the right — and sustained losses which
increased the total of its casualties in the campaign to 440,
or over one half of its aggregate for duty when it crossed
the Eapidan. Among the wounded in this affair were
Captain Ward of Co. B. and Lieutenants Estes, Co. A.,
Worcester, Co. F., and Priest, Co. I.
During the last day of severe fighting at Spottsylvania
on the 18th, the regiment was under sharp artillery fire,
south of Spottsylvania Court House, and had ten men killed
and wounded by the explosion of a single shell,2 besides other
casualties.
At Cold Harbor, June 1st, the regiment again distin-
guished itself, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Pin-
gree, charging the enemy's works under heavy fire, and es-
tablishing itself within speaking distance of the enemy ; and
during the ten days of constant and active hostilities which
followed, the Second took its turns in the front line, with the
other regiments of the Old Brigade. In the assault of June
3d, Lieutenant Hiram Bailey, of Brandon, Co. B., was
killed ; and when the fighting of Grant's Overland Compaign
ended on the 12th of June, the casualties of the regiment
1 Captain Clarke is mentioned by General L. A. Grant in his report, as
having specially distinguished himself on that occasion. Quartermaster A.
J. Bobbins is also specially mentioned. He was seriously wounded in the
engagement of May 12th.
2 Two killed, H. P. Ford and Joseph Kehoe, and eight wounded. One
of the latter, Henry Amblow, of Co. G, lay on the field with a shattered ankle
for eight days, before he was found, sustained during the time only by the
small amount of food in his haversack. When found by the enemy
mortification had set in, and he died, after amputation, a week later.
THE SECOND BEGIMENT. 117
aggregated 477—82 killed, 359 wounded, 50 of whom died of
their wounds, and 40 missing.1
In the action of the 18th of June in front of Petersburg
the regiment was on the skirmish line, with the Fifth regi-
ment, and had two men wounded.
On the 19th of June 1864 the term of service of the
original members of the regiment expired, and as many of
them as had not re-enlisted — being 19 officers and 200 men —
were relieved from duty, and started next day for Vermont,
where they were mustered out, at Brattleboro, on the 29th of
June. The officers so retiring from the service were Adjutant
Edgerton, Surgeon Sawin, Captains W. H. Cady, D. P. Clark,
and P. E. Chase ; First Lieutenants E. O. Cole, J. P. Sawyer,
James Allen, J. J. Bain, A. Worcester, E. A. Priest, and E. N.
Drury; and Second Lieutenants O. Y. Estes, A. J. Robbing,
B. W. Hight, E. A. Tilden, H. E. Hayward, G. W. Bridgman,
and O. G. Howe. Most of these officers, and many of the
men, bore the scars of honorable wounds, some not yet
healed ; and their departure took some of the best soldiers in
the regiment. The general regret felt thereat not only in
1 The list of rank and file who were killed or died of wounds received
in the campaign from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor, is as follows :
Co. A. J. Alsop, Ira Allen, W. E. Barrows, E. Grace, H. S. Hill, W.
C. Jackson, S. Matteson, J. W. Niles, John Powers, H. A. Richardson, D.
Ryan, A. J. Vorce, H. A. Fuller.— 13,
Co. B. C. Bailey, C. S. Barber, B. Cargill, T. P. Dunham, J. McKean
D. A. Patch, M. P. Wood.— 7.
Co. C. G. N. Beckwith, W. Cole, J. Donohue, A. R. Doyon, J. Fannef,
E. B. Fisher, L. Goodell, G. S. Gray, A. Guiette, F. M. Miller, N. A. Peck,
I. 8. Scott.— 12.
Co. D. A. Bean, V. F. Crane, J. D. Cummins, W. S. George, O. Gil-
man, J. K. Hall, R. Hawkins, C. L. Holmes, D. A. Houghton, G. Hubbard,
W. G. Kelly, C. Nye, I. Piper, C. Saunders, N. E. Scribner, H. Stone, W.
S. Stone, T. Wood, L. Woodward.— 19.
Co. E. W. Clark, D. N. Cushman, G. W. Durrell, F. P. Ellsworth, P.
Emery, J. E. Foster, E. Goodwin, A. M. Magoon, G. H. Noyes, W. M.
Noyes, A. Rust, W. H. Sanborn, N. F. Smith, Edward H. Smith, Charles
Tillison.— 15.
Co. F. B. L. Fortin, I. J. Hargin, C. B. Jacko, M. Johnson, W. A.
118 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAB.
the Vermont brigade, but throughout the Second division,
and indeed throughout the Sixth corps, was expressed in the
following handsome order from their division commander :
HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, SIXTH CORPS,)
June 20th, 1864. )
GENERAL ORDER No. 36 — It is not necessary that any regiment of the
Vermont brigade should have their deeds recounted, or their praises sung
in general orders. How many well fought and bloody fields bear witness
to their bravery! Least of all do you, the soldiers of the Second Ver-
mont, the veterans of the brigade, who have shed your blood on almost
every field from the first Bull Run, need a panegyrist. Your deeds speak
for themselves, and will keep your memory green, while courage, steadi-
ness and devotion to duty are honored among men. But that you may
know how your general and your comrades regret and mourn your de-
parture, and to bid you farewell and Godspeed, this order is written.
Again farewell, brave and noble men. For three years you have borne the
brunt of battle, and now returning home with scarce a tithe of your original
numbers, with just pride you can proclaim that you have done your duty.
You have fulfilled your compact. History will record your services. Let
this order express the feelings of those you leave behind.
By order of Brig. General Neill.
HAZARD STEVENS, A. A. G.
The end of the three years' term, found but 370 of the
866 original members of the regiment left. The rest, 496 in
number, had been killed or had died of disease, been dis-
charged, or had deserted. The re-enlisted veterans, origin-
ally 181 in number, but now reduced by death to 150,
some thirty of them having been killed since their re-enlist-
Kelton, W. Labounty, G. Lawrence, S. D. Mahoney, J. Mitchell, E Shorey,
H. Stoddard, Wm. Stone.— 12.
Co. G. H. Amblow, H. J. Bass, E. C. Bragg, F. Cook, C. E. Day,
H. Dickinson, H. P. Ford, E. P. Gibbs, D. Hanly, J. Kehoe, P. W. Reed,
H. Reed, F. Salters, W. S. Smith, T. Train, G. H. Wilder.— 16.
Co. H. L. Brooks, J. C. Felton, H. Howe, G. A. Kneeland, J. Laird,
F. Marshall, B. McLeod, W. Minogue, M. Pelka, E. W. Squires, G. A.
White.— 11.
Co. I. J. W. Adams, J. E. Butterfield, I. D. Clark, G. A. French,
S. B. Gleason, C. C. Grant, M. E. Grover, P. Halpin, E. G. Holmes, G. W.
Parker, D. A. Scofield, J. Story, P. Swazy, J. Sweeny, A. Sweetland, O. K.
Ward.— 16.
Co. K. J. Bovia, E. Brooks, T. G. Gardner, J. W. Grant, J. Kelley,
C. L. Norton, G. W. York.— 7.
THE SECOND REGIMENT.
merit, with the recruits, 410 in number who had been added
from time to time, made a regiment of 560 men, which re-
mained in the field.1 Its field and staff officers were Lieut.
Colonel Amasa S. Tracy and Major Enoch E. Johnson, who
had been promoted to those positions on the 17th of June ;
Surgeon Melvin J. Hyde, Assistant Surgeon E. R. Brush,
and Quartermaster L. L. Stone. Four captains remained,
viz : Eollin C. Ward, Elijah Wales, John T. Bass, and Daniel
S. White. As Captain White had been disabled by a wound
in the Wilderness, no less than seven of the companies were
commanded at this time by lieutenants or sergeants. The
companies did not average over 25 rank and file for duty,
and some of them had but about half that number of mus-
kets in line.2 It was the lowest period, as regarded numbers
present for duty, in the entire history of the regiment.
On the 19th of June, the regiment, what was left of it,
was under an active but ineffective artillery fire, in front of
Petersburg. On the 23d it participated in the movement of
the Sixth corps against the Weldon Kailroad, in which,
the Fourth and Eleventh Vermont suffered so severely.
It was at Eeam's Station, with the Sixth corps, on the 29th,
and when the corps was detached from the army on the 10th
of July, to protect Washington from capture by General
Early, it marched with the Vermont brigade to City Point,
went thence by transport to Washington ; assisted in driving
the enemy from before the defences of the national Capital,
and shared the fatigues of the next month of hard marching
1 Of this number, however, only 273 were present for duty.
2 Co. G. crossed the Kapidan May 4th, with 64 men. On the 7th of
June, first Sergeant Aldrich, commanding company, reported ten men
present for duty. In this one company in five weeks the casualties were ;
killed and mortally wounded, 7; severely wounded, 30, of whom 7 sub-
sequently died ; slightly wounded, 9 ; missing, 5, of whom 2 were sup-
posed to be killed, and 3 prisoners. Co. H. had 68 men for duty May 4th .
after Spottsylvania it had 14. Its killed and wounded numbered 42, and
missing, 6. Co. D. lost still more'heavily. So of other companies.
120 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
to Snicker's Gap, Harper's Ferry, into Maryland and in the
Shenandoah Valley.
Near Strasburg, Virginia, on the 14th of August, the
Second formed part of the force with which General Sheridan
was feeling the enemy on Fisher's Hill, and lost two men,
wounded, on the skirmish line. In the notable engagement
of the 21st of August, at Charlestown, Va., the regiment,
under command of Lieut. Colonel Tracy, was sharply engaged
and lost five men killed and 11 wounded.
In the battle of Winchester, on the 19th of September,
the regiment distinguished itself and lost five men killed and
mortally wounded1 and 29 wounded. Lieutenant Colonel
Tracy superintended for a time a portion of the line, though
suffering from a disability, which shortly compelled him to re-
linquish the command to Major Enoch Johnson, by whom it
was gallantly led.a It participated with the brigade in the
battle of Fisher's Hill, and though suffering no loss earned
its fair share of the glory of that splendid victory.
At Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, the regiment,
under command of Captain Elijah "Wales, Lieut. Colonel
Tracy being for the time in command of the brigade, held
the skirmish line in front of Getty's division of the Sixth
corps, when it made its final stand and checked Early's
advance. During the rest of the day it marched and fought,
in retreat and in advance, with the brigade, losing three
men killed, 31 wounded and four missing. Among the
wounded was Lieut. Colonel Tracy, whose services are especi-
ally mentioned in General L. A. Grant's report. While
inspecting the skirmish line after General Sheridan's arrival
on the field he received a serious wound from a fragment
1 Co. A— J. Camp, M. M. Clough, C. Curtice. Co. E— J. A. Walcott.
Co. H -J. C. Hutchinson.
8 Major Johnson's services on this occasion were especially recognized
in the report of the brigade commander, as were those of Lieut. Colonel
Tracy.
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 121
of a shell in his left hip, previously injured by a fall from
his horse. His wound disabled him for several months,
during which the command of the regiment devolved on
Major Enoch E. Johnson, who was bre vetted lieutenant
colonel for his gallantry at Cedar Creek.
The morning report of October 31st, at Strasburg, Ya.,
showed an aggregate of 560 men, of whom 227 were sick and
19 prisoners.1
The regiment remained in the Shenandoah Yalley till
December 9th, when with the rest of the Sixth corps the
brigade was removed by rail and transports to Petersburg,
and went into winter quarters on the lines on the south side
of Petersburg, near the Weldon Eailroad, the Second hold-
ing the right of the brigade. The rest of the winter was
spent in severe picket service and fatigue duty on the forts.
In February, Lieut. Colonel Tracy sent in his resignation
on account of disability from his wound received at Cedar
Creek, but withdrew it at the request of his superior officers.
On the 25th of March, 1865, the regiment (with the
brigade), charged and carried and held the enemy's en-
trenched picket line in front of Fort Fisher, with a loss of
two men killed and 10 wounded. In the repulse of the
enemy's attempt to retake this line on the 27th, five men of
the Second were wounded.
In the final victorious assault on the defences of Peters-
burg on the 2d of April, the Second once more distinguished
itself and lost eight men killed and 33 wounded. Among
many individual instances of gallantry, that of Captain
Wales in capturing, with two men, a field piece which they
1 The killed and those who died of wounds in the Shenandoah Cam-
paign under Sheridan, were as follows : Co. A., L. Wyman; Co. B., H. M.
Clark; Co. C., M. Lynch; Co. D., D Crossman, Z. Hatch; Co. E., W. J.
Foster, H. G. Hill, H. H. Lyman, W. Reed, J. E. Tupper; Co. F., J. B.
Lute; Co. H., W. Howard, B. F. Hulburd, C. H. Stowe ; Co. K., A. H.
Fields, T. McGilley, J. S. Sweeter, A. Ward, L. H. Welcome.
122 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
turned and discharged upon the enemy, was conspicuous.1
The regiment joined in the pursuit of Lee's army after
the fall of Richmond, and had a skirmish with the rear guard
of the enemy in the evening of April 6th, at Sailor's Creek,
Va., in which the last shot discharged in action by the Sixth
corps is claimed, and so far as known without dispute, to
have been fired by the Second Yermont.
Lieut Colonel Tracy was commissioned as colonel on the
7th of June, Major Johnson being promoted to the lieutenant
colonelcy and Captain E. G. Ballou to be major.3
The regiment participated in the review of the Yermont
troops, by Governor Smith, at Bailey's Cross Roads, Ya.,
on the 7th, and in the review of the Sixth corps by the Presi-
dent of the United States on the 8th of June, 1865. The
regiment then had an aggregate of 495 men, 149 of whom
were on the sick list, and 312 present for duty.
On the 19th of June, the recruits whose terms of service
were to expire previous to October 1, 1865, about 300 in
number, were mustered out. The remainder of the regiment
remained at Ball's Cross Eoads, Ya., near Washington, till
the 15th of July, when it was mustered out of the U. S. ser-
vice. On the 16th the regiment left Washington for home.
It arrived at Burlington on the morning of July 19th, with
20 officers and 213 men, 60 of whom were original members
of the regiment. The field and staff officers so returning
were : Colonel A. S. Tracy, who went out with the regiment as
first lieutenant of Co. K. ; Lieut. Colonel E. Johnson, who
went out as second lieutenant of Co. B. ; Major E. E. Ballou,
1 The killed and those who died of wounds in front of Petersburg in
March and April, 1865, were as follows : Co. A., L. Carpenter, L. L. Jack-
son; Co. B., J. W. Bromley, H. G. Ross; Co. D., T. Gormand; Co. E.,
W. Hurlburt, C. C. Morey, A. D. Spaulding ; Co. G., G. W. Sharpley ;
Co. I., A. L. Benson, Albert Hathorn.
2 Under the rules prescribed by the War Department, however, these
officers were mustered out with the rank respectively, of lieutenant colonel,
major, and captain.
THE SECOND REGIMENT.
who went out as first sergeant of Co. I.; Surgeon M. J.
Hyde, who joined the regiment as assistant surgeon in
September, 1863 ; and Assistant Surgeon E. A. Brush, who
went out as a drafted man in July, 1863, and was appointed
assistant surgeon in October, 1863. The line officers return-
ing were: Captain and Bvt. Major Elijah Wales, Captain
and Bvt. Major E. W. Harrington, Captains William Bond,
H. H. Prouty, W. B. Hurlbut, D. C. Dunham, and H. F.
Taylor, and First Lieutenants James Howard, E. H. Fifielcl,
A. Lessor, N. Fassett, G. W. Flagg, George Buck, and A. D.
Beckwith.
The regiment was met at the railroad station in Bur-
lington, on its arrival, by a committee of citizens with the
old band of the First brigade, N. D. Adams, leader, which
though it had been mustered out of the service had retained
its organization till now. At the city hall the veterans were
received by Mayor Albert L. Catlin and welcomed home by
Hon. George F. Edmunds in an eloquent address. After a
breakfast, served by ladies and citizens in the hall, the regi-
ment marched to its quarters at the U. S. Marine Hospital,
where on the 25th and 26th the men were paid off for the last
time, were mustered out, and then separated to their homes.
A list of names, a list of battles and a table of significant
figures, will close this regimental record.'
The following men, in addition to those who died of
wounds in Confederate prisons or hospitals, whose names
have been included in previous lists of mortally wounded, are
known to have died in the enemy's hands :
DIED IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
Company A— James Bailey, captured May, '64, died at Andersonville,
July 11, '64; Enos Blair, captured May 21, '64; George A. Shumacker,
captured May 26, '64.
Company B— Silas L. Hart, captured May 5, '64, died at Andersonville,
October 12, '64; David B. Bateinan, died at Andersonville, July 15, '64;
Giovanni Arbitraca, captured May 21, '64.
124 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Company D— Nelson E. Dodge, captured May 10, '64, died at Ander-
sonville ; William Cooley, captured May 12, '64, died at Andersonville,
November 23, '64 ; Oren Bickley, Jr., captured May 10, '64, died at Ander-
ville.
Company G — Myron C. Palmer, captured May 21, '64, died at Savannah,
October, '64 ; James McGuire, captured May 21, '64, died at Andersonville,
September 20, '64.
Company E — Azro Buzzell, captured October 19, '64, died February 27,
'65; Charles C. Richardson, captured May 12, '64, supposed dead.
Company K — John Skiddy, captured, May '64, died in Georgia, Oc-
tober, '64; Thomas Simpson, captured May, '64, died at Florence, Ga.;
Thomas Witham, captured May '64, died at Florence, Ga.; Patrick Marlow,
captured May, '64 ; Willard Woods, taken by guerrillas.
The battles and engagements in which the Second regi-
ment participated, as officially recorded, were as follows :
THE BATTLES OF THE SECOND VERMONT.
Bull Run, July 21, 1861
Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862
Williamsburg, May 5, 1862
Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862
Savage's Station, June 29, 1862
White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862
Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862
Fredericksburg, . - Dec. 13, 1862
Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863
Salem Heights, May 4, 1863
Fredericksburg, June 5, 1863
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863
Funkstown, July 10, 1863
Rappahannock Station, ....... Nov. 7, 1863
Wilderness, May 5th to 10th, 1864
Spottsylvania, May 10th to 18th, 1864
Cold Harbor, June 1st to 12th, 1864
Petersburg, June 18, 1864
Charlestown, Aug. 21, 1864
Opequan, . Sept. 13, 1864
Winchester, ........ Sept. 19, 1864
Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21st, 1864
Mount Jackson, Sept. 24, 1864
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864
Petersburg, . March 25, 1865
Petersburg, April 2, 1865
Sailor's Creek April 6, 1865
THE SECOND REGIMENT. 125
FINAL STATEMENT.
The final statement of the Second Vermont is as follows :
Original members— officers, 38 ; enlisted men, 828; total 866
Gain — recruits, 984; transferred from other regiments, 8 ; total 992
Aggregate 1,858
LOSSES.
Killed in action — officers, 4; enlisted men, 134; total 138
Died of wounds — officers, 2; enlisted men, 80; total 82
Died of disease — enlisted men 139
Died in Confederate prisons, not of wounds 22
Died from accidents, (enlisted men), 3; executed, 1; total 4
Total of deaths 385
Promoted to other regiments — officers, 6 ; enlisted men, 2; total 8
Honorably discharged — officers, 35 ; enlisted men, 399 ; total 434
Dishonorably discharged — officers, 5; enlisted men, 19; total 24
Deserted — enlisted men 178
Dropped from roll, 2 ; finally unaccounted for, 5; total 7
Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps and other organizations 120
Total loss 1,156
Mustered out, at various times — officers, 55; men, 647; total 702
Aggregate 1,858
Total wounded 613
CHAPTEE TIL
THE THIRD REGIMENT.
Organization of the Regiment — Rendezvous at St. Johnsbury — Departure
from the State— Arrival at Washington— Sketch of Colonel Wm. F.
Smith— Colonel Smith made Brig. General — Changes among the Offi-
cers— Fatigue Duty in Virginia— Pardon of William Scott— Under Fire
at Lewinsville — Casualties — Arrival of other Vermont Regiments —
Sickness in the Regiment— The Peninsular Campaign— Action at Lee's
Mill— List of Killed— The Seven Days Retreat— Willie Johnson—
First Fredericksburg — Resignation of Colonel Hyde — Numerous
Changes in the Roster — Marye's Heights, and Banks' s Ford — Service at
Newark, N. J. — Winter at Brandy Station— Losses in the Wilderness
Campaign — Skirmish at Fort Stevens — End of Three Years' Term —
Shenandoah Campaign — Petersburg — Return Home.
The organization of the Third regiment began at the
same time with that of the Second, but was not as quickly
completed. The twenty companies comprising the two regi-
ments were selected, by Adj't and Insp. General Baxter,
from the much larger number whose services were ten-
dered to the State in the first week in May 1861. The
companies assigned to the Third regiment were recruited
in the towns of Springfield, Coventry, Newbury ("Wells River)
Charleston, Johnson, Hartford, St. Johnsbury, St. Albans,
Guildhall, and East Montpelier and Calais. The rendezvous
was fixed at St. Johnsbury, the grounds of the Caledonia
County Agricultural Society being selected for the camp,
which was designated as " Camp Baxter," in honor of Adj't.
and Insp. General Baxter. The St. Johnsbury and Hartford
companies went into camp on the 7th of June 1861. The
THE THIKD REGIMENT. 127
Charleston and Springfield companies arrived next day, and
the remaining companies on various dates during the four
weeks following, the last company arriving on the 3d of
July.'
The battalion and the regiment after its completion, was
under the command of Lieut. Colonel Breed N. Hyde, dur-
ing its stay in Camp Baxter.
The regiment was physically, as well as in other respects,
an unusually fine body of troops, the average height of the men
being five feet ten and a half inches,2 and the average weight
161 Ibs. They were quartered, at Camp Baxter, in the main
building of the Caledonia County Agricultural Society.
Several weeks elapsed before the regiment was uniformed,
armed and officered. Meantime the measles ran through the
ranks, prostrating one man in every three. Many men ob-
tained leave of absence. Owing to these and other causes
the discipline of the camp was somewhat lax, and the six
weeks' sojourn of the regiment at St. Johnsbury, was diversi-
fied by more than the usual amount of running of the guards,
raiding of sutlers' shanties and other riotous proceedings.
One of these had a serious termination. In resisting an at-
tack on Pike's refreshment saloon, in the camp, on the even-
ing of the 20th of July, one of the guard that had been
stationed inside the shanty, in the discharge of his duty fired
into the crowd of soldiers who were battering in the door, in-
stantly killing one man, Sergeant John Terrill, of Co. I., and
wounding another.
The regiment was supplied with uniforms of gray
cloth, which looked well at first but soon faded under the
Virginia sun. Tents and camp equipage were distributed
1 A Vergennes company, under Captain Solon Eaton, was one of the
original companies assigned to the Third ; but was subsequently assigned
to the Second regiment, just before the latter left the State.
2 The tallest man in the regiment measured six feet five and a half in-
ches in his stocking feet.
128 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
during the first week in July. A supply of Enfield rifled
muskets was secured in New York, a little later.
The procuring of an officer of sufficient military training
and experience to command the regiment was a matter of
some difficulty. Governor Fairbanks at first hoped to place
the regiment under the command of Colonel J. W. Phelps,
of the First regiment, whose term of service would soon ex-
pire ; but Colonel Phelps's services as commandant of the
post at Newport News, were of too much value to the
government to be spared, and his promotion to a brigadier
generalship soon removed him from the immediate service of
the State. Governor Fairbanks then endeavored to obtain
from the War Department the detail of Captain Truman Sey-
mour, 4th U. S. Artillery, a native Yermonter who had distin-
guished himself in the Mexican War and was one of the de-
fenders of Fort Sumter, to command the regiment ; but the
application was declined. A like application for permission
for Captain A. V. Colburn, U. S. A., afterward Asst. Adj't
General of the Army of the Potomac on General McClellan's
staff, to accept the colonelcy, met a similar response — to the
effect that his services could not be spared.
Weeks passed during the pendency of these and similar
applications, and it was not till after the regiment had
left the State, that a colonel was secured for it. Meantime
the following field and staff officers had been appointed:
Lieut. Colonel, Breed N. Hyde, Hydepark; Major, Walter
W. Cochran, Bellows Falls; Adjutant, Asa P. Blunt, St.
Johnsbury ; Quartermaster, Kedfield Proctor, Cavendish ;
Surgeon, Henry Janes, Waterbury ; Asst. Surgeon, David M.
Goodwin, Cabot; Chaplain, Moses P. Parmelee, Underhill.
Lieut. Colonel Hyde was of military parentage, his
grandfather having fought at Bunker Hill, while his father
served in the war of 1812 and was for twenty-five years an
officer in the regular army. He had received a military
education at West Point. Major Cochran had been active in
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 129
the reorganization of the militia and was colonel of the Sec-
ond regiment of militia when the war broke out. The others,
though without special military training, were well quali-
fied by character and education for their respective positions.
Mr. Parmelee was a Congregational minister, who had just
left the theological seminary and was ordained about the
time of his appointment as chaplain.
On the 16th of July, the regiment, numbering 882
officers and men, was mustered into the U. S. service by
Lieut. Colonel Eains, U. S. A., and on the 18th, orders were
received from Washington directing the regiment to report
as soon as ready, to General Banks at Baltimore, Md. Its
departure was hastened by the news of the Union defeat at
Bull Run, in the first pitched battle of the war ; and on the
morning of July 24th it started for the South in a train of
twenty-two cars. It was fully provided with tents, baggage
wagons and camp furniture, and was accompanied by an ex-
cellent regimental band of 24 pieces. An immense throng of
spectators witnessed and cheered its departure, and wherever
the train stopped on the way down the Connecticut Yalley, it
was greeted with cheers and salutes. At Bellows Falls and
Brattleboro the citizens supplied refreshments ; at Holyoke,
Mass., a thousand factory girls from the mills formed in line
beside the track, and waved the regiment on as the train
whirled by. At Springfield, Mass., it was received with a
salute of artillery ; Mayor Bemis and the city authorities pro-
vided a substantial collation, which was served to the troops
by the firemen of the city, and a crowd of five or six thou-
sand people cheered the regiment off. At Hartford, the
association of Sons of Vermont of that city and a large con-
course of citizens received the regiment. A beautiful flag of
white silk, bearing the arms of Yermont and of the citj of
Hartford, was presented by the Sons of Vermont, and re-
ceived with an appropriate response by Lieut. Colonel Hyde.
At New Haven, at midnight, the regiment took the steamer
9
130 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Elm City, arrived at Jersey City at six o'clock the next
morning, and at three o'clock p. M. took train for Washing-
ton. At Philadelphia it had a genuine Philadelphia welcome
and supper, provided by the Union Defence Committee. It
did not stop at Baltimore as originally directed; but was
ordered directly to Washington, where it arrived on the
morning of July 26th. It was quartered in a public hall for
the day and following night, and on Saturday the 27th,
marched to Georgetown Heights, and went into camp at
Camp Lyon — named after the gallant General Nathaniel
Lyon, of Missouri — at the head of the "Chain Bridge,"1
across the Potomac, six miles above the capitol. Here it
was joined about the time of its arrival by its colonel, just
appointed. For this position Captain William F. Smith, U.
S. A., afterwards a major general and a distinguished corps
commander, had been selected. Captain Smith was a native
Yermonter, a cousin of Hon. John Gregory Smith of St.
Albans, subsequently the last war governor of Vermont. He
graduated with credit from the U. S. Military Academy in 1845>
and was appointed a lieutenant of Topographical Engineers.
He had served in surveys of the northern States, of the Mex-
ican boundary, and in Texas ; had been assistant professor of
mathematics in the U. S. Military Academy ; had in 1859,
superintended the construction of a light-house and harbor
improvements at Chicago, where he formed an acquaintance
with Captain George B. McClellan, then vice-president of
the Illinois Central Eailroad, which afterwards stood him in
good stead. When the war broke out he was the Engineer
secretary of the Light House Board at Washington. He had
been serving during June and July 1861, under General
Butler, as engineer with the forces at Fortress Monroe.
Soon after the attack on Fort Sumter Captain Smith
had signified to Governor Fairbanks his willingness to take
1 The bridge was a substantial arched structure which two years pre-
viously had replaced the old chain bridge.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 131
command of a regiment from his native State ; but it was
not an easy matter to secure the necessary consent of the
War Department. This, however, after repeated requests
and refusals, was at last obtained by the aid of General Scott,
who had before this shown a distinct interest in the Vermont
troops, and who specially requested the detail of Captain
Smith to command the Third Yermont.1 The appointment
of Captain Smith as colonel was received with general satis-
faction by the regiment and the people of Yermont. His
commission reached him the last week in July,2 and he
immediately joined his regiment, at Chain Bridge, and was
assigned to the command of the forces stationed at that
point. These consisted of the Third Yermont ; the Sixth
Maine ; an artillery company which manned two field pieces
at the end of the bridge and two 68 pounders on the bluffs
above ; and a cavalry company. To these were soon added
the Second Yermont, the Thirty-Third New York, and other
troops. The camp was high and pleasant. The position
was an important one, as it guarded not only the bridge, but
the reservoir which supplied Washington with water. The
regiment was occupied in drill and picket duty. There was
a Confederate out-post at Falls Church, Ya., seven miles
west, and a larger rebel force at Yienna, three miles beyond
Tails Church, and frequent rumors of coming attacks kept all
alert. The night of August 7th was spent in the rifle pits,
in consequence of a false report of an advance of the enemy.
In the first three weeks of its service in the field, impor-
tant changes took place among the field officers of the. regi-
ment. Major Cochran, who had been incapacitated for service
by a severe attack of fever and ague, resigned his commission
on the 6th of August, and Captain Wheelock G. Yeazey, of
1 Letter of Hon. E. P. Walton, to Walton's Journal
2 Col. Smith's commission was dated back by the State authorities to
April 27th, 1861, the day after the date of Col. Phelps's commission, en-
abling him thus to rank Col. Whiting of the Second.
132 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Co. A., was promoted to be major in his place. A week later,
August 13th, Colonel Smith was appointed brigadier general
of volunteers. Lieut. Colonel Hyde was thereupon promoted
to the colonelcy, Major Veazey was appointed lieut. colonel,
and Captain Thomas O. Seaver, of Co. F., was made major.
On the 22d the regiment was reviewed, with the other troops
on Georgetown Heights, by President Lincoln, accompanied
by General McClellan and Secretaries Seward and Chase,
and was complimented for its efficient appearance.
In the night of the 3d of September, the regiment moved
with General Smith's brigade, across Chain Bridge into Vir-
ginia, and bivouacked by the side of the turnpike a mile beyond
the bridge. For several weeks after, it was occupied chiefly
in fatigue duty, felling trees and throwing up fortifications
for the defence of Washington, principally on the fort at first
named Fort Smith, in honor of General William F. Smith,
but afterwards known as Fort Marcy. While here, an in-
cident occurred which created no small sensation in the army,
was widely published in the newspapers and became a fruit-
ful theme for poetry and romance. William Scott, a private
in Co. K, of the Third Vermont, was found asleep on
his post, while on picket duty ; was tried by court martial for
the crime, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot — the first
sentence of the kind on record in the army. Scott was only
twenty-two years of age, of good character, and had been on
picket duty two nights in succession, having voluntarily
taken the place of a sick comrade the night before. His
case aroused great sympathy. A petition for his pardon was
signed by hundreds, from privates of the various regiments of
the brigade up to General Smith, and was taken to Washington
by Chaplain Parmelee. The sentence was promulgated on the
5th of September, and was to be executed on the morning of the
8th. In the evening of the 7th, the matter came to the knowl-
edge of President Lincoln, and he at once granted a respite
of the sentence. His order for a stay of the execution was
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 133
telegraphed to Camp Advance ; but hearing nothing from it,
and fearing it might have miscarried, Mr. Lincoln ordered
his carriage, and a little before midnight, after a drive of near-
ly ten miles, made his appearance at the brigade headquar-
ters, to reiterate his order in person, and make sure of the
life of the young Vermonter. Next morning the arrange-
ments for the execution went on. The brigade was drawn up
in hollow square, a shooting party detailed, and Scott was
brought out, as if for death. He was deadly pale, and an oc-
casional shudder shook his exhausted frame, but he asked
for no mercy. The following order was then read :
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,)
Washington, September 8. )
Private William Scott, of Company K. of the Third regiment of Vermont
volunteers, having been found guilty by court martial of sleeping on his
post while a sentinel on picket guard, has been sentenced to be shot, and
the sentence has been approved and ordered to be executed. The com-
manding officers of the brigade, the regiment and the company, of the
command, together with many other privates and officers of his regiment,
have earnestly appealed to the Major-General commanding, to spare the
life of the offender, and the President of the United States has expressed a
wish that as this is the first condemnation to death in this army for this
crime, mercy may be extended to the criminal. This fact, viewed in con-
nection with the inexperience of the condemned as a soldier, his previous
good conduct and general good character, and the urgent entreaties made
in his behalf, have determined the Major-General commanding to grant the
pardon so earnestly prayed for. This act of clemency must not be under-
stood as affording a precedent for any future case. The duty of a sentinel
is of such a nature, that its neglect by sleeping upon or deserting his post
may endanger the safety of a command, or even of the whole army, and all
nations affix to the offence the penalty of death. Private William Scott of
Co. K. of the Third regiment of Vermont volunteers, will be released from
confinement and returned to duty.
By command of Maj. -General McClellan,
S. WILLIAMS, Asst. Ad jt. -General.
The camp rang with cheers for President Lincoln after
the dismissal of the parade, and Scott returned to his com-
pany, to do good service as a soldier, and to give his life
134 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
seven months later, while gallantly charging the rebel rifle
pits at Lee's Mill.
On the llth of September, the Third had its first ex-
perience under fire, and suffered its first loss of men killed
and wounded by hostile bullets. The regiment formed part
of a column of 2,000 men, comprising four infantry regi-
ments, two companies of the Second Vermont, four guns of
Griffin's Battery and two companies of cavalry, which under
command of Colonel Isaac Stevens of the 79th New York,
made a reconnoissance to and beyond Lewinsville, Va. Three
companies of the Third were thrown out as skirmishers on
the roads to Yienna and Falls Church, beyond Lewinsville,
and drove in the enemy's skirmishers, at a point a mile and a
half beyond Lewinsville, having one man wounded, Sergeant
Farnham of Co. C., shot in the ankle. While on its return,
after having occupied the village and its approaches for two
or three hours, the column was attacked by a section of
Rosser's battery, which had been sent out with an infantry
support from Munson's Hill, under command of Colonel
J. E. B. Stuart, the subsequently famous and dashing confe-
derate cavalry General. One of the first shells fired exploded
in the ranks of Company C. of the Third, killing one man,
Amos Meserve, outright, mortally wounding another, William
H. Colbnrn, and injuring four or five others more or less se-
riously. Griffin's guns replied, and an artillery duel of an
hour's duration followed, at the end of which the enemy was
no longer to be seen, and the Union column, now commanded
by General Smith, who had ridden out from Camp Advance
on hearing the firing, continued its march, in good order, back
to camp. The Third Yermont and the two companies of the
Second present, were detached from the main force, during
the action, as a support to Griffin's Battery ; and conducted
themselves in a way to merit high praise,1 though muck
1 Captain Griffin says, in his report of this action: " It affords me much
gratification to testify to the coolness and handsome deportment of the
THE THIKD REGIMENT. 135
disgusted that they could not do some shooting, as well as
standing to be shot at.
The casualties of the regiment in the entire affair were-
one killed, one mortally wounded, one seriously and seven
slightly wounded. The loss fell chiefly on Company C. The
killed and wounded were all brought from the field. The
mortally wounded man, "William H. Colburn, was placed by
Surgeon Janes in a house on the road, and as nothing could
be done for him he was left there in charge of a comrade. Next
morning Lieutenant E. M. Noyes of Company C. with twenty
men went back within the confederate picket line to the
house where Colburn was left, found that he had died during
the night, and brought his body, together with the body of a
man of the Nineteenth Indiana, killed upon the field, back to
Camp Advance. Colburn was a son of Prof. Zerah Colburn,
who was noted as a mathematical prodigy in his early life,
and was subsequently Professor of Mathematics in Norwich
University. He was a brave man and good soldier.
In the absence of more important matters, this affair
made no little sensation on both sides. On the confederate
side it won for Stuart his promotion to a brigadiership,
and formed the subject of reports by Generals Longstreet
and Joseph E. Johnston, and of a congratulatory order by the
latter, as General of the Confederate Army, in which it was
described as the routing of a large Union force by a small
Confederate battalion, without loss to the latter.
On the 18th, a battalion of three companies of the Third,
under Colonel Hyde, acted as a guard of honor to the
colors of the 79th New York, known as " The Highlanders,"
Vermont Third and some 80 men of the Second Vermont, who were or-
dered to support the battery. They were for about an hour under a very
warm fire from the enemy's artillery."
Lieutenant W. Borrowe, of Colonel Stevens's staff, says: "I must in
conclusion speak of the splendid behavior of the Third Vermont, who stood
the fire with the greatest coolness * * obeying all orders
with a promptness that was extraordinary."
136 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
when they were restored to that regiment, from which they
had been taken several weeks previous by General McClellan
as a punishment for insubordination and disorderly conduct.
On the 25th of September, the regiment formed part of a
force of 5,000 men of all arms, with which General Smith
made a second reconnoissance to Lewinsville. There wras a
slight artillery skirmish but no casualties. About this time
Quartermaster Proctor, who had been a capable and excellent
quartermaster, resigned, having been appointed Major of the
Fifth Vermont. In his place Lieutenant Frederick Grain, of
Company A., was appointed quartermaster, September 25th.
During the next two weeks the prevailing quiet was
broken only by the arrivals of new regiments attached to
General Smith's command, which was now taking on the pro-
portions of a division. Among these were the Fourth and
Fifth Yermont regiments. The fall rains, frequent fogs and
cold nights began about this time to tell severely on the
health of the men. On the 8th of October, over 200 men
were on the sick list, not a quarter of whom could be accom-
modated in the camp hospital — the rest being sent to
Georgetown, Annapolis and Baltimore. Typhus fever pre-
vailed to some extent, and occasioned several deaths.
October 9th, the regiment moved out with the other Ver-
mont regiments to Camp Griffin, about four miles from Chain
Bridge. The location was a more wholesome one, and the
health of the regiment improved somewhat ; but there was a
good deal of suffering from want of suitable and sufficient
clothing. The tents were thin and leaky, the gray uniforms
in which the men left the State had become faded, worn and
thin, and there was a lack of drawers and blankets, which
was seriously felt in the cold and damp nights. The needs
of the regiment were so pressing, in these respects, as to
form the subject of petitions from the commissioned officers
to the Legislature, and of communications from General
Smith to the governor, calling the attention of the State
MAJ.GEN.WIF. SMITH.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 137
authorities to the subject. Tt was not easy, however, to pro-
vide supplies upon the instant ; and though the suffering of
the men was in part alleviated by private supplies of com-
forters, underclothing and warm stockings sent by their
friends at home, it was nearly the middle of November
before the regiment was comfortably clothed. By that time
the men were in new uniforms of army blue, and provided
with drawers and blankets by the government, and a week or
two later were supplied with new tents of the "James
patent," large, tight and of heavy duck. The general health
of the men improved under these provisions for their health
and comfort, till in a weekly report in January, but 84 were
reported on the sick list, being but about a third of the
average proportion of sick in the Yermont brigade.
The winter passed uneventfully at Camp Griffin, the
men being employed in regular drill, camp guard and picket
duty. On the 10th of March, 1862, orders came to break camp,
and the regiment moved with the brigade and with the army.
It remained in camp near Alexandria till the 23d, when it
marched to Alexandria and took transports down the Poto-
mac, arriving at Fortress Monroe on the 24th. The next day
the regiment landed and went into camp -with the brigade
near Hampton, Ya. On the 4th of April, it moved up the
Peninsula in the general advance of the army, till it was
brought to a standstill in front of the Confederate lines
below Yorktown. On the 16th of April, at Lee's Mill, Ya.,
the first assault upon the enemy's works made by General
McClellan's army in the Peninsula campaign of 1862 was
made by the Third regiment; and in that sanguinary and
desperate action, elsewhere more fully described, the regi-
ment had the most prominent part. A reconnoissance made
by Lieutenant Noyes of the Third, of General Brooks's staff
won him high commendation; and the dash through and
across Warwick Creek by the four companies of the Third
which assaulted and carried the enemy's riflepits, has been
138 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
recognized in many histories as one of the most daring ex-
ploits of the campaign. A curious commentary on the uncer-
tainty of history and the value of military glory is afforded
by the fact that the man who was mentioned in the reports of
Colonel Hyde and General Brooks as commanding the bat-
talion, and who appears in General Webb's History of the
Peninsula Campaign, and in other histories, as the leader of
the charge across Warwick River, really exercised no command
of the battalion, and probably did not even accompany it
across the river ; while the actual commander and leader of
the charge, which left him mutilated for life and well nigh
cost him his life, was wholly overlooked in the official reports
and barely alluded to in the newspaper accounts of the fight,
and now first receives the credit that is his due.
The four companies were commanded, Company D. by
Captain F. C. Harrington ; Company E. by First Lieutenant
Robert D. Whittemore j1 Company F. by Captain Samuel E.
Pingree ; Company K. by Captain Leonard E. Bennett.
Harrington was the ranking captain and made a report of
the action, as the commanding officer of the detachment.
There is, however, much ground for doubt whether he crossed
Warwick Eiver that day. His own statement is that he crossed
the creek with his command ; that he personally rescued the
colors of the regiment, which had been abandoned in the
stream by the color guard ; and that he staid with his
men till he received the order to retire, which he gave to the
command. On the other hand there is positive evidence,
that soon after receiving the order to cross Captain Harring-
ton turned the command of the battalion over to Captain S.
E. Pingree, next in rank, sa}dng that his (Harrington's) phy-
sical condition was such that it was not prudent for him to
go into the water. Various eye witnesses in the ranks of his
1 Whittemore had been commissioned as captain, in place of Captain
B] an chard, who had resigned six months previous ; but his appointment
had not reached him.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 139
own and other companies declare that they did not see him
across the creek, and do not believe he crossed the stream.
The incident of the rescue of the colors rests only on his own
testimony. Ordinarily the colors would not be sent out with
a detachment of four companies ; and truthful and responsi-
ble officers, who could not have failed to see the colors if
they were there, say that they do not believe that the colors
were taken under fire that day.1 The actual commander, so
far as the detachment had any after it left the left bank, was
Captain Samuel E. Pingree, who led the assault with the ut-
most gallantry, and held his men to their work till he was dis-
abled by two serious wounds, one of which took off the thumb
of his right hand, and till the order to fall back came, when
he repeated the order and was helped, fainting from loss of
blood, to the rear. He was taken to the camp hospital and
thence via Fortress Monroe to Philadelphia, where he was
placed in a hospital by Quartermaster General Davis, who
was looking after the wounded Yermonters. Typhoid pneu-
monia supervened before his wounds were healed, and
brought him to death's door. No man was ever nearer death
and survived. His surgeons and friends gave him up. His
death was reported in the Vermont papers, and his obituary
written ; but he rallied on the very edge of the grave, and
lived to fight through the war ; and to become the Governor
of the State ; and to serve the public in civil life with the
modesty, efficiency and fidelity which characterized his mili-
tary service.
The loss of the regiment was 26 killed and 63 wounded,
nine of whom died of their wounds. Of 52 officers and men
1 Captain Harrington was dismissed the service a few weeks later (on
the 23d of July, 1862) under charges of disobedience of orders and ab-
sence without leave, during the six days of fighting on the Peninsula, in
the change of base. After the end of the war, the order of dismissal was
in 1870, revoked, and the record changed to one of honorable discharge,
upon Captain Harrington's petition, backed by a number of field and line
officers of the brigade.
140 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of Co. F. who went into the fight, 27, or 52 per cent., were
killed or wounded. Of these nine were killed outright and
three mortally wounded. Co. D. had eight men killed and
one mortally wounded. Five men of Co. K. were killed and
three died of their wounds. Co. E. had four killed. The
battalion numbered 192 officers and men, and its loss in killed
and wounded was 45 per cent. In the previous skirmishing
one man of Co. A. was killed, and five of Companies A., B.
and H., were wounded.1
The regiment was with the First Vermont brigade du-
ring the stay of the army before Yorktown ; in the march up
the Peninsula ; in the battle of Williamsburg where it was
sent to the right to reinforce General Hancock and joined
Hancock's command in its advanced position ; in the month of
picket and fatigue duty in front of Kichmond ; and on the
Seven Days' Hetreat. In these trying days, the regiment
was commanded by Lieut. Colonel Yeazey, Colonel Hyde
being absent on sick leave. The regiment was engaged at
Savage's Station, June 29th, and, lost six killed and 18 woun-
ded. Among the killed was Second Lieutenant John "W.
Ramsay, Co. C., and among the wounded were Captain D.
T. Corbin, Co. C., who was left on the field and captured, and
Captain Nelson, Co. I., who lost three toes by a musket shot.
When General Smith's division was paraded at Harri-
son's Landing, after the " change of base," it was found that
'The killed were; E. Briggs, D. Campbell, Jr., J. Cookman, 8. Dan-
forth, J. Lebay, J. Neal, O. C. Stevens, S. Sweetland, Co. D. ; F. J. Thomas,
8. Thompson, W. P. Vance, E. W. Wells, Co. E. ; A. Boynton, W. H.
Downer, W. S. Kurd, G. Kibble, F. Morrill, D. M. Morse, J. F. Perry, D*
Wilson, R. Wilson, Co. F. ; A. J, Batten, F. Cenneville, P. Devine, E. D.
Waterman, A. F. Willey, Co. K.— 26. Those who died of their wounds
were; A. A. Bailey, Co. A. ; H. C. Hill, A. Hutchinson, Co. D.; J. Butter-
field, J. M. Smith, W. Whitcomb, Co. F. ; T. Connell, A. J. Hoyt, W.
Scott, Co. K.— 9.
2 The killed were : A. C. Armington and E. P. Howard of Co. C.; G.
W. Fletcher of Co. F.; H. W. Jones of Co. I.; and A. B. Russell of Co. K.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 141
but one drummer of the entire division had brought his drum
with him through the Seven Days' Eetreat. This was a St.
Johnsbury lad of 14 years, named "Willie Johnson, who was
the drummer boy of Co. D. of the Third Vermont. While
many strong men threw away their arms and everything but
the clothing on their persons, Willie clung to his drum and
carried it through with him, and at Harrison's Landing he
had the honor of drumming for division parade. These facts
were reported by General Smith to the War Department,
and several months later Willie was summoned to Wash-
ington and received from Secretary Stanton the star medal
of honor, for his fidelity and pluck.1
The regiment was with the Vermont Brigade during the
Summer and Fall of 1862, and took part, without serious
loss, in the forcing of Crampton's Gap, September 14th ; at
Antietam, where it lost one man killed1 and three wounded,
September 17th, and at the first Fredericksburg, December
13th, where it had two killed and eight wounded.3
On the 27th of September j Lieut. Colonel Veazey was
appointed to the Colonelcy of the Sixteenth regiment. Major
Seaver was promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy in his place ;
and Captain Samuel E. Pingree succeeded him as Major.
Lieut. Colonel Veazey was a thoroughly brave and uncom-
monly capable officer, and his departure was a serious loss to
the regiment.
The opening of the year 1863, found the regiment in
camp at Belle Plain Landing, and its morning report' of
January 7th, showed an aggregate of 791 men, of whom 573
were present for duty and 204 on the sick list.
On the 15th of January, Colonel Hyde resigned the
1 Young Johnson re-enlisted at the end of three years, and served
through the war.
2 J. Stanton, Co. D.
3 The killed were B. Farwell and J. Whipple, Co. G. 8. C. Boynton,
Co. E., died of his wounds.
142 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
colonelcy, under circumstances not altogether creditable.
He had been ordered before a court martial, on a charge of
cowardice exhibited at Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862.
He alleged in his defence, physical weakness from tempo-
rary illness ; but the circumstances altogether were such, and
the unfavorable result of the court martial so probable, that
he was advised to resign, and did so, and his resignation was
accepted. Truth compels the historian to say that he had
not been a popular or successful commander ; and the re-
giment welcomed the change which gave Lieut. Colonel
Seaver the colonelcy and command.1 Major S. E. Pingree
was promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy, and Captain
Thomas Nelson of Co. I, was appointed major.
The changes in the roster of the regiment which had thus
far occurred were frequent and great. In the eighteen
months of its service the regiment had seen its field officers
thrice changed. Adjutant Blunt had been promoted to the
lieutenant colonelcy of the Sixth, and had been succeeded by
Lieutenant W. F. Corey of Co. H, who resigned in July,
1862, and was succeeded as adjutant by Serg't Major Edward
Mattocks. Quartermaster Proctor had been promoted and
succeeded by Lieutenant Frederick Grain. Chaplain Par-
melee had resigned and was suceeded in January, 1862,
by Rev. Daniel A. Mack, a Methodist Episcopal Clergyman
of Boyalton, leaving Surgeon Janes and Ass't Surgeon Good-
win the only members of the original field and staff remain-
ing. In the line Captains Yeazey, Seaver, Pingree and Nelson
liad been promoted ; Captains Corbin, Allen and Hammond
had been honorably discharged for wounds and disabilities
1 Lieut. Colonel Seaver had been, during the month previous, in com-
mand of the Twenty Sixth New Jersey, a new regiment which had been
brigaded for three months with the First Vermont brigade. Its colonel
being ill, and its only remaining field officer having seen no previous ser-
service, Lieut. Colonel Seaver was assigned to the command of the regi-
ment ; and under his capable command it rapidly improved in drill and
discipline. New Jersey and The Rebellion, p. 543.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 143
incurred in the service ; Captains West, Blanchard and
House had resigned, and Captain Harrington had been
cashiered, leaving not one of the original company com-
manders ; and as many or more changes had taken place in
the various lieutenantcies. No other Vermont regiment •
the First Vermont cavalry excepted — was subjected to such
sweeping changes of officers during the first year and a half of
its service.
Colonel Seaver, its new commander, was a young man
of high intelligence and spirit. He had enlisted from the
town of Pomfret, at the age of 27, in response to the first
call for three year s troops, and was chosen captain of his
company at its organization in May, 1861. He had reached
the colonelcy through all the successive grades of promotion,
and had shown himself cool and brave in action, and faithful
to every duty. He had the confidence and respect of the
regiment, and under his command it won some of its brightest
laurels.
At the famous storming of Marye's Heights, at Fred-
cricksburg, May 3d, 1863, the regiment formed part of the
third storming column which, under command of Colonel
Seaver, gallantly carried a portion of the crest, with the loss
of one killed l and six wounded. Next day, Colonel Seaver
was detailed as division officer of the day for General Howe's
division, leaving the command of the Third to Lieut. Colonel
Pingree. In the engagement of that day, designated in Adj't
General Washburn's list of battles as Salem Heights but
perhaps better known as that of Banks's Ford, the regiment
rendered gallant and very important service in the repulse of
the Confederate brigades of Hoke and Hays, and in the
covering of the withdrawal of Howe's division and of the
Sixth corps across the Eappahannock. Its loss was two
killed and mortally wounded,2 24 wounded and 13 missing.
1 S. M. Whitman, Co. E.
2 J. C. Crossam, Co. C, and O. Farnsworth, Co. G.
144 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Among the wounded were Lieutenant E. P. Goodell, of Co.
G. and Lieutenant E. A. Kennedy, of Co D. Colonel Seaver
was specially mentioned in the reports of the brigade and
division commanders, and in his report he commends Lieut.
Colonel Pingree and Major Nelson for gallant and. efficient
service that day.1
The Third crossed the Eappahannock with the brigade
on the 5th of June ; shared the hard march to Gettysburg ;
and in the engagement at Funkstown, Md. on the 10th of
July, it lost one man killed and several wounded,2 of whom
one died of his wounds. During the last two weeks of August
and first two of September, the regiment was maintaining
order and supporting the laws, in and near New York city.
This service was not entirely confined to moral suasion.
Among other duties, the Third regiment was sent to Newark,
N. J., September 5th, to mount guard over a New Jersey re-
giment, which had been recruited from rather poor material
by means of large bounties, and was now in danger of entire
dissolution from the numbers who were deserting. A guard
of U. S. regulars had been stationed there to maintain dis-
cipline and stop the escape of deserters ; but with so little
success, that General Dix relieved them and put the Third
Vermont in their place. On the night of the 7th a number
of the Jerseymen undertook to rush past the guard, who,
after due warning, used their arms with fatal effect. Three
of the "bounty jumpers" were killed and four wounded;
and there was no more attempting to run guard while the
Yermonters were on duty. The New Jersey roughs of course
hated as well as feared the Yermonters, and their malice
sometimes found ugly expression. On one occasion as a
guard, Alvah T. Bell of Co, H, was leaning for a minute on
1 Lieut. Horace French, acting provost marshal, is also favorably men-
tioned in the report of Col. L. A. Grant, commanding the brigade.
5 J. Cuthbert, Co. F, killed. A. G. Page, Co. F, died of his wounds.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 145
his gun, with his hand over the muzzle, a Jersey man crept
up slyly and pulled the trigger, discharging the musket and
shattering Bell's hand for life.
During the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from
the front of Mine Run, on the 1st and 2d of December, 1863,
the Third with the Seventy Seventh New York and a battery
guarded the Germania Ford and covered the rear, while the
army marched back to its old camp, near Brandy Station.
On the 3d the regiment followed the rest of the army, and
went into winter quarters near Brandy Station, Va. Here it
remained for five months. In December, 204 of the men re-
enlisted for the war. Successive additions of recruits brought
up the aggregate of the regiment on the 1st of February to
800. The health of the regiment at this time was remarkable,
the sick list averaging but 83, for four months.
About 600 effective men of the Third marched into the
Wilderness under General U. S. Grant on the 4th of May,
1864, and a third of them fell in the battles of the 5th and
6th. The regiment, under Colonel Seaver, fought in the
front line on the left of the Orange Plank road, and its loss
on those two bloody days was 40 killed, 184 wounded, 25
of whom died of their wounds, and 15 missing. Among the
killed were Adjutant Abel Morrill and Captain E. H. Bart-
lett, Co. B., and among the wounded were Captain Erastus
Buck, who died of his wounds, Captain H. W. Floyd, and
Lieutenants H. C. Miller, C. E. Osgood and E. P. Goodall.
Lieutenant Horace French, acting aid on the staff of Gene-
ral L. A. Grant, had his horse shot under him and was taken
prisoner, at the close of the battle of the 4th. Corporal
Thomas J. Miller, Co. K., who served as mounted orderly,
received honorable mention in General L. A. Grant's report.1
1 The killed of the rank and file were : J. H. Clark, C. A. Cook, E. B.
Felcher, Co. A.; C. S. Blood, J. Dunn, L. G. Flood, Co. B.; C. H. Bur-
bank, Co. C.; J. H. Allen, N. Drown, J. Petre Jr., G. Roberts, F. D.
Spicer, Co. D.; E. B. Burnham, O. M. Tillotson, Co. E.; F. Boyd, D.
• 10
146 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
At Spotfcsylvania, on the 10th of May, four companies of
the Third, under Captain Kenesson, shared the glory of Upton's
famous charge and a portion of them remained in the enemy's
works until the last. On the 12th the regiment was in the
thickest of the fight at the " Bloody Angle." The loss of the
regiment on those two days was 19 killed and 75 wounded,
of whom seven died,1 the loss falling heaviest on compan-
ies C. and G. Among the wounded on the 12th was Captain
John F. Cook of Co. E., who received a severe wound in the
breast which occasioned his honorable discharge eleven
months later. On the 16th, Colonel Seaver with the Third
Yermont and a Massachusetts regiment made a reconnois-
sance towards Spottsylvania Court-house, driving in the ene-
my's skirmishers to their main line of works.
On the 21st, the Sixth corps being then a little south of
Spottsylvania, the enemy broke through the skirmish line,
which was covering the withdrawal of the corps, and Colonel
Seaver was sent out with the Third Yermont to re-establish
the line. This was promptly done and several prisoners
taken.
Huse, J. L. Marsh, R. M. McGibbon, Co. F.; D. Connell, M. W. Gray,
H. B. Hooker, G. Newton, M. G. Paige, D. Rattray, Co. G.; R. Goodwin,
D. Parker, G. W. Pryor, Co. H.; F. F. England, G. Hendrick, R. H.
Langdon, L. Morse, J. Shattuck, E. B. Smith, J. A. Tabor, J. Weeks,
Co. I.; P. Haggerty, J. McCarty, J. Welch, Co. K.
The mortally wounded were: R. N. Bullard, Co. B.; G. F. Sawtelle,
Co. C.; W. Hammett, J. Wilson, Co. D.; S. L. Kemp, A. White, Co. E.;
G. F. Bemis, R. B. Carlton, E. Doyle, T. S. Hodson, M. Morain, J. Sabine,
Co. F.; H. C. Thompson, G. W. Wright, Co. G.; E. M. Allison, O. Hoga-
boom, M. C. Page, H. Rumrill, J. E. Searle, Co. H.; F. Baker, J. Hinman,
W. Whipple, Co. I., J. A. Fales, G. D. Taft, Co. K.
1 The killed were E. A. Boynton, W. H. Bugbee, Co. A ; J. N. Flanders,
G. N. Gardner, W. Morris, H. B. Williams, Co. C.; W. H. Colley, B. A.
Hoag, A. S. Judd, J. Morse, Co. D.; F. Gallagher, S. Q. Farnsworth,
C. W. Hill, C. H. Northrop, E. H. Scott, J.T. Simpson, Co. G.; C. C. Cobb,
J. Ryan, Co. I.; W. J. McMannis, Co. K.
L. P. Leland, Co. A.; J. C. Doyle, S. G., Heaton, A. B. Jones. Co. D.;
E. Ordway, L. A. Ryder, Co. F. and H. Crow, Co. G., died of wounds.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 147
In the bloody battle of Cold Harbor, on the 3d of June,
the Third formed for a time a portion of the front line, and
suffered severely, having 13 killed, 17 mortally wounded,1
and 53 more or less severely wounded. Among the mortally
wounded was Lieutenant Henry C. Miller, of Co. A., a brave
and capable young officer, who died next day. Captain
Kenesson, of Co. D. was among the wounded.
On the night of the 3d the brigade was temporarily
divided, and Colonel Seaver was sent with the Third and
Fifth and two battalions of the Eleventh, to relieve and
support a portion of the Third division of the Sixth corps.
They were placed in the front line, relieving General Eussell's
brigade, and were detached from the rest of the brigade for a
week of almost constant skirmishing. During the night of
June 12th Colonel Seaver's command rejoined the brigade,
and the Third started, with the brigade, on the march for
Petersburg. The regiment had thus far since it crossed
the Rapidan, had about 300 men killed and wounded, and
20 captured, and was thus reduced to about half its effective
force of five weeks previous.
June 20th the regiment was under heavy artillery fire,
in the lines in front of Petersburg, and lost one man killed.8
In the movement of the Sixth corps against the Weldon
Eailroad, June 22d, the Third, with other Yermont troops,
was on picket, guarding the left flank of the corps.
The next day the picket line of the Second division of the
'The killed were : E. J. Flanders, Co. A.; N. A. Brink, P. Dolan, Co.
B.; J. F. Wheelock, Co.E.; W. W. Page, Co. G.; H. M. Hogaboom, J.
Popple, Co. H.; G. F. England, G. W. Harvey, J. B. Percival, W. Rob-
bins, Co. I.; H. Plumb, O. Whitcomb, Co. K.
Those dying of their wounds were: W. O. Messenger, Co. A.; E. S.
Nye, Co. B., J. Flaherty, Co. C.; A. White, Co. E.; A. L. Bartholomew,
O. Davis, Co. F.; A. S. Writer, Co. G.; J. H. Frisbie, J. Blanshaw, Co. H.;
B. A. Hutchins, J. C. Stone, A. A. C. Symes, Co. L; J. Arnold, J. Hen-
derson, W". Henderson, C. H. Leavitt, Co. K.
8 William Belcer, Co. F.
148 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Sixth corps was composed chiefly of Vermont troops, and was
under the charge of Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pingree, as Division
Officer of the Day. Captain Beattie of the Third, with nine-
ty men, reached the Weldon road, accompanied by a party
of pioneers who commenced the destruction of the track.
Later in the day, the enemy assaulted the skirmish line, and
captured four hundred men of the Fourth and Eleventh
Vermont regiments. Colonel Pingree was not held respon-
sible for this disaster ; but on the contrary won high praise
for his efficiency and bravery.1
On the 29th of June, on the advance of the Sixth corps
to Beam's Station, the Third was deployed on the skirmish
line, and drove in the enemy's skirmishers. On the 30th of
June the regiment had 340 men present for duty.
July 9th the regiment went with the brigade and the
Sixth corps to Washington, to repel Early's demonstration
against the Capital. In the skirmish in front of Fort Stevens,
July 12th, some twenty men of the Third, who were in a
company of about seventy-five picked men, organized as
sharpshooters under command of Captain A. M. Beattie, par-
ticipated in the sally of General Bidwell's brigade, and in the
sharp skirmish which drove the enemy out of sight. One
man of the Third 2 was killed and one wounded in the action.
1 Gen. L. A. Grant, in his report of this action, says : " Although Lieut.
Colonel 8. E. Pingree, 3d Vermont, was not under my command that day,
but was acting as Officer of the day in charge of the whole picket or skir-
mish line, I bear willing testimony to his coolness and bravery, and almost
superhuman efforts. He had a difficult and extended line, and his atten-
tion was called to different points almost at the same time. He performed
his duties in a manner entitling him to great praise."
The army correspondent of the N. Y. World, describing the first as-
saults of the enemy on the skirmish line, said : " The enemy, though at-
tacking in two strong lines, were effectually thwarted by ,our skirmish-
ers for the skillful manoeuvering of which too much praise cannot be
bestowed on Colonel Pingree, of the Third Vermont, who commanded
them. Special mention will be made of Colonel Pingree and of Captain
Beattie, for the efficiency and bravery displayed by them on this occasion."
9 Russell L. Stevens, Co. D.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 149
On the 16th of July, the brigade being then near Lees-
burg, Va., the three years' term of the original members of
the regiment expired. They had become reduced, chiefly by
death and discharge, from 881 to 335. Of these 179, having
re-enlisted for the war, remained in the field.1 Over 50 were
in hospital suffering from wounds or severe sickness. The
remainder, 104 in number, under command of Colonel Seaver,
left on the 17th, passed through New York on the 20th, and
arrived at Burlington in the evening of the 21st. They were
received and escorted by a procession of firemen and citizens
to the town hall, where they were welcomed home in an ad-
dress by Hon. L. B. Englesby, which was fittingly responded
to by Lieut. Colonel Pingree, Colonel Seaver not being
present. A supper was tendered to the veterans by the citi-
zens of Burlington at the American Hotel that evening, at
which speeches were made by Adj't General P. T. Washburn,
Colonel Seaver, Professor C. W. Thompson of the University,
and others, after which the regiment marched to its quarters
in barracks on the Fair ground. The men were paid off by the
U. S. Paymaster and State Treasurer, and mustered out of
the service by Captain Murray, U. S. A., on the 27th. The
officers so mustered out were Colonel T. O. Seaver, who went
out as captain of Co. F. ; Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pingree, who
went out as first lieutenant of Co. F.; Major Thomas Nelson,
who was the first captain of Co. I.; Surgeon D. M. Goodwin,
who was the first assistant surgeon of the regiment ; Chaplain
D. A. Mack ; Captains D. A. Kenesson, A. M. Beattie, W. A.
Pierce, Leo Hyde, and Sidney H. Brigham ; First Lieutenants
F. E. Hew, Wm. H. Bowker, E. A. Chandler, W. M. Currier,
H. H. Phillips and James Fletcher; and Second Lieutenants
C. E. Osgood, C. F. Bailey, E. P. Goodall Jr., D. B. Yeazey,
and Alvin Jones. Most of these company officers went out as
privates.
1 The number who re-enlisted originally was 204. Of these some 20 had
been killed, and several had deserted, subsequent to re-enlistment.
150 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The departure of the officers and men whose three years'
term had expired, took from the regiment all its field officers
and over half of its company commanders ; but more veter-
ans and recruits remained in the field than had been mustered
out. On the 25th of July they were consolidated into a
battalion of six companies — the members of Companies D.,
F., G. and H. being distributed among the other companies
— under command of Captain Horace W. Floyd, who was
soon after commissioned as major. The morning report of
July 31, showed an aggregate of 483, with 218 present for
duty, and 242 on the sick list, the larger part of whom were
wounded men.
In the notable engagement at Charlestown, Ya., August
21, 1864, the Third had three men killed and 15 wounded.1
In the opening battle of General Sheridan's Shenandoah
campaign, known as that of the Opequan, or Winchester,
September 19th, 1864, the Third, under Major Floyd, who
was also in command of the Fourth, was sharply engaged
and lost 30 men, two being killed, 26 wounded, of whom three
died of their wounds, and two missing.2 It took part again,
two days later, in the battle of Fisher's Hill. It lost one man,
T. J. Miller of Company K., who was the brigade color bearer,
killed on the 21st.
At Cedar Creek, October 19th, about 200 men of the
Third went into the battle, and the loss of the regiment was
three killed, 38 wounded, three of whom died of wounds,
and one missing.3 Captain W. H. Hubbard and Lieutenant
1 The killed were A. Goodell, J. J. Rich and D. E. Smith of Co. I.
A. E. Fales, of Co. K., died of his wounds.
2 The killed were W. E. Crowell, Co. E., and C. H. Sanborn, Co. F.
J. Deady, andE. B. Cram, Co. E., and J. S. Kelley, Co. C., died of their
wounds.
3 The killed were: James Greig, Co. C., E. G. Thompson, Co. F.,
H. C. Voodry, Co. K.
M. E. Parker, Co. A., J. E. Page, Co. C., and A. Pierce, Co. E., died of
their wounds.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 151
A. H. Lyon, were among the wounded. Major Floyd was
mentioned in General Grant's report for " truly conspicuous
and gallant conduct." He had been appointed lieutenant
colonel on the 18th, but did not receive his commission till
after the battle of Cedar Creek. He was brevetted colonel
for gallantry and good conduct in the battles of the Shenan-
doah Valley. Upon Major Floyd's promotion to the lieuten-
ant colonelcy, Captain John F. Cook was appointed major,
October 18th, 1864.
Returning to Petersburg with the Sixth corps after the
close of the Shenandoah campaign, the regiment went into
winter quarters with the Yermont brigade, on the " Squirrel
Level Road," on the southwest of Petersburg. The men
were occupied during the winter and early spring in severe
picket service along the lines, and in hard fatigue duty on
the forts which were constructed by the Sixth corps. On the
25th of March 1865, the regiment, with the brigade, assaulted
the enemy's entrenched picket line, taking many prisoners,
and held the captured works, having three men wounded.
On the morning of the 27th, it aided in the repulse of the
enemy's assault on the captured line, and had one man
wounded.
The last fighting done by the Third was in the final
assault of the Sixth corps on the Confederate lines on the
south of Petersburg, April 2d, which resulted in the fall of that
stronghold and of Richmond. In the storming of the enemy's
works, and in the subsequent fighting of the brigade, the
Third had an honorable share, and Lieut. Colonel Floyd and
a portion of his command distinguished themselves in the
capture of a Confederate battery, in the last stand made by
the enemy in front of Petersburg. The loss of the regiment
was four killed and 19 wounded, two of whom died.1 Among
'The killed were: H. J. Stephens, Co. A.; S. C. Ingleston, Co. E.;
J. H. Hastings, Co. I., and W. Harvey, Jr., Co. K.
N. Gould, Co. A., and G. Peach, Co. C., died of their wounds.
152 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
the latter was Lieutenant Gardner t). Hawkins, who was act-
ing as adjutant of the Fourth Vermont.
The regiment accompanied the brigade and the Sixth
corps in the final hard marching of the campaign, and of the
war, and went into its last camp in the field, at Munson's
Hill, June 1st, with about 300 men. The morning report of
June 7th showed an aggregate of 466, of whom 320 were on
duty, 128 sick and 18 reported absent with or without leave.
On the 4th of June, in recognition of their meritorious
services, Lieut. Colonel Floyd was promoted to the colonelcy,
Major "William H. Hubbard,1 to thelieut. colonelcy, and Cap-
tain A. H. Newt of Company B. was appointed major. These
promotions, however, were not recognized by the War Depart-
ment ; and under its rules these officers were subsequently
mustered out as of the ranks previously held by them.
On the 7th and 8th of June, the regiment participated
in the review of the Vermont troops by Governor Smith, at
Bailey's Cross Roads, near Alexandria, and in the review
of the Sixth corps by President Johnson, at Washington.
On the 19th, the men, numbering about 100, whose
terms of service were to expire before the 1st of October,
were mustered out ; and on the llth of July, the remainder,
numbering 22 officers and about 300 men, were mustered out,
at Bailey's Cross Roads, and started at once for home. The
officers so nmstered out were Colonel Floyd, Lieut. Colonel
"W. H. Hubbard, Major A. H. Newt, Adjutant A. H. Hall,
Quartermaster G. F. Brown, Surgeon J. J. Meigs, Chaplain
P. A. Mack, Captains George W. Bonett, B. H. Fuller, L.
B. Fairbanks, J. S. Thompson, T. F. Leonard and Horace
French; First Lieutenants J. S. Tupper, 6. B. Robinson, A. C.
Wakefield, A. W. Lyon, and O. H. Thompson ; and Second
Lieutenants W. W. Woods, E. E. Cushman, C. B. Guyer and
,-% *>«•
1 He had been appointed Major on the discharge of Major Cook, who
received an honorable discharge, April 8th, for disability resulting from his
wounds.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 153
A. J. Locke. They reached New York on the 13th, and ar-
rived at Burlington in the afternoon of the 14th. They were
received with a salute of cannon, were escorted to the city
hall by a mounted escort of citizens ; were welcomed in an
address by Rev. George B. Safford, and entertained at a din-
ner in the city hall, served by the ladies of Burlington, after
which the veterans marched to their quarters at the Marine
Hospital, where they were paid off, a day or two later, and
dispersed to their homes.
The names of 200 officers and men of the Third who
were killed or died of wounds received in action, have been
already given in this regimental record. To these may pro-
perly be added the names of the martyrs who died of disease
or starvation in the enemy's hands. These were as follows ;
DIED IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
Company B— Aiken Giloe, captured May, '64, died at Anderson ville,
Ga., June 8, '64; Goodwin W. Stevens, wounded and captured May 6, '64,
died in prison ; Oel Wardner, died at Andersonville, November 5, '64.
Company C — Frederick B. Avery, died at Andersonville, March 13, '65.
Company I— William Coville, captured June 2, '64, died at Anderson-
ville, August 12, '64; Silas Forrest, captured June 2, '64, died at Ander-
sonville, August 29, '64; William B. McCollister, captured June 2, '64,
died at Andersonville, October 20, '64 ; William O'Brien, captured June 2,
'64, died at Andersonville, April 23, '65 ; Frank Papineau, captured June
2, '64, died at Andersonville, August 14, '64.
154 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The battles in which the Third had honorable part, as
officially recorded, were as follows :
BATTLES OF THE THIED KEGIMENT.
Lewinsville, Sept, 11, 1861.
Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862.
Williamsburg, May 5, 1862.
Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862.
Savage's Station, June 29, 1362.
White Oak Swamp, June 30 1862.
Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862.
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862.
First Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862.
Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863.
Salem Heights, May 4, 1863.
Fredericksburg, June 5, 1863.
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
Funkstown, July 10, 1863.
Rappahannock Station, -...-.. Nov. 7, 1863.
Wilderness, May 5 to 10, 1864.
Spottsylvania, May 10 to 18, 1864.
Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864.
Petersburg, June 18, 1864.
Ream's Station, June 29, 1864.
Washington, July 11, 1864.
Charlestown, Aug. 21, 1864.
Opequan, Sept. 13, 1864.
Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864
Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864.
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864.
Petersburg, March 25 and 27, 1865.
Petersburg, April 2, 1865.
THE THIRD REGIMENT. 155
The final statement of the Third Vermont is as follows :
FINAL STATEMENT.
Original members— com. officers 33, enlisted men 843, total 881
Gain: recruits 919; transferred from other regiments 9, total 928
Aggregate 1,809
LOSSES.
Killed in action — com. officers 3, enlisted men 127, total 130
Died of wounds— com. officers 2, enlisted men 68, total 70
Died of disease- com. officers 1, enlisted men 143, total 144
Died, not of wounds, in Confederate prisons — enlisted men 9
Died from accidents — enlisted men 4
Total of deaths 357
Promoted to other regiments or to U. S. Army, officers 6, men 5, total... .11
Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps and other organizations —
com. officers 3, enlisted men 106, total 109
Honorably discharged, Com. officers, resigned 24 ; for disabilities 10, total. 34
Enlisted men honorably discharged, for disabilities 368, for wounds, 38. ..406
Dishonorably discharged — Com. officers 2, enlisted men 12, total 14
Paroled prisoners discharged — enlisted men 3
Total by discharge 457
Deserted 285, dropped from roll 1, unaccounted for 8, total 294
Mustered out — com officers 45, enlisted men 536, total 581
Aggregate 1,809
Total wounded 426
Re-enlisted... 204
CHAPTEE VIII.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT.
Call for more Troops in August, 1861 — Organization of the Regiment— Its
Field and Staff— Camp Holbrook— Delays in Equipment and of De-
parture— Journey to Washington — Arrival at Camp Advance — Joins
First Brigade at Camp Griffin — Remarkable Period of Sickness— The
Spring Campaign of 1862— March to Flint Hill and Cloud's Mills— The
Peninsula — First shot at Lee's Mill— Losses at Lee's Mill — Service at
Williamsburg and in front of Richmond— Changes of Officers — Cramp-
ton's Gap and Antietam — Arrival of Recruits — Promotion of Colonel
Stoughton and Changes of Officers - First Fredericksburg — Winter
Quarters at Belle Plain— Marye's Heights and Banks's Ford— March
to Gettysburg — Loss at Funkstown — Winter at Brandy Station-
Resignation of Colonel C. B. Stoughton— Sketch of Colonel George P.
Foster— Losses in the Wilderness and the Overland Campaign— Misfor-
tune at Weldon Railroad— Action at Charlestown — Expiration of Three
Years' Term— The Shenandoah Campaign— In the Lines of Petersburg
— The Final Assault — End of the War and Return Home.
The response of Yermont to the news of the disastrous
battle of the first Bull Run was a proclamation by Governor
Fairbanks, dated July 30th, 1861, calling for the immediate
enlistment of two more three years' regiments of volunteers,
in addition to the two already sent forward. In this procla-
mation he anticipated the coming call for troops from Wash-
ington. He said in it : " The events of the 21st instant and
" the retreat of the United States Army from the field near
" Manassas Junction, demonstrated the necessity of a greatly
"increased national force, and although no formal requisi-
" tion has been made upon me by the secretary of war, nor
"any apportionment of troops as the quota for this State
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 157
•c communicated, yet the events referred to indicate clearly
" the necessity of exercising the discretionary power conferred
" on me by the aforesaid act for raising and organizing addi-
tional regiments. Orders will therefore be issued imme-
" diately to the adjutant and inspector general for enlisting
" the Fourth and Fifth regiments of volunteers for three
"years or during the war, to be tendered to the general
" government as soon as it may be practicable to arm, equip
" and discipline the troops for service." Commissions were
at once issued to twenty recruiting officers in different parts
of the State, and the work of enlistment of men began. A
despatch received at this time from the secretary of war,
urging the governor to send on any more troops at his dis-
posal " in view of imminent danger," showed that the gov-
ernor had not been hasty in anticipating the action of the
authorities at Washington. In order to hasten recruiting
he thereupon commissioned twenty more recruiting officers
on the 19th of August ; and in a second proclamation, dated
August 20th, he earnestly called upon the citizens, "espe-
cially the young men of the State, to enroll their names at
the several recruiting stations for the service of their coun-
try."
Within thirty days after the governor's proclamation of
July 30th, men enough to fill two full regiments had been
recruited, and most of the companies composing them or-
ganized. The men of the Fourth were enlisted for the most
part in towns in the southern part of the State. The colo-
nelcy was offered to Lieut. Colonel Washburn of the First re-
giment, who declined it on account of the precarious condi-
tion of his health. Lieutenant Edwin H. Stoughton, U. S. A.,
was then appointed colonel. He was a native of Bellows Falls ;
a graduate of West Point, of the class of 1859 ; and a second
lieutenant in the Sixth U. S. Infantry. He resigned his com-
mission in December, 1860, when many regular army officers
resigned, the resignation to take effect on the 4th of March
158 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
1861, when the term of Abraham Lincoln as President was
to begin ; but he subsequently reconsidered his determination
and withdrew his resignation with a view of entering the
volunteer service. He was but twenty three years of age
when appointed colonel of the Fourth, and was said to be
the youngest colonel in the army at that time. Colonel
Stoughton's commission bore date of August 1st, 1861,
The other field and staff officers were appointed about two
weeks later.
Major Harry N. Worthen of Bradford, lately of the First
regiment was appointed lieutenant colonel. John C. Tyler of
Brattleboro, a young man of 22, was appointed major ;
Charles B. Stoughton of Bellows Falls, a younger brother of
the colonel, a youth of nineteen years, was appointed adjut-
ant ; the regimental staff were John Halsey Cushman of
Bennington, quartermaster ; Dr. Samuel J. Allen of Hartford,
surgeon; Dr. Willard A. Child of Pittsford, asst. surgeon;
and Kev. Salem M. Plympton, a Congregational clergyman
of West Haven, Conn., chaplain.
The rendezvous was fixed at Brattleboro, and as fast as
the companies were organized they went into camp there,
the first arriving September 12th, and the last September
14th. The camp was named " Camp Holbrook," in honor of
Hon. Frederick Holbrook of Brattleboro, who had just been
•elected Governor. The preceding regiments had been uni-
formed by the State, in gray ; but the uniforms of the Fourth
were furnished by the General Government, and were of army
blue (dark blue blouses and light blue pantaloons,) with hats
of black felt, similar to those worn by the U. S. regular
troops. The arms were Enfield rifles. The regiment com-
pared favorably in material and personal appearance with
those that had already gone from Vermont. The standard-
bearer was six feet seven and a half inches tall. Most of the
field and staff officers were young, much younger than those
of the other regiments, but some of them, as well as a number
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 159
of the company officers, had had some experience in the First
regiment.
On the 14th of September, before the regiment was fairly
full, or any uniforms and equipments had been received,
Governor Fairbanks received directions from the War De-
partment to send forward the Fourth and Fifth Vermont
regiments at once, the Department giving assurance that
any deficiencies in the outfit of the regiments would be sup-
plied upon their arrival at "Washington. The Governor
accordingly ordered the regiments forward ; but the officers
strongly objected to leaving the State until the men were
fully equipped, representing that by such a move the dis-
cipline of the regiment would be seriously impaired. In
consideration of all the circumstances the Governor consented
that the departure should be delayed until the men could be
properly equipped, and it was a week later before the regi-
ment started for the war. Camp life was a new experience
to the men, and during the rainy week at Camp Holbrook,
nearly 300 men were sick from change of diet and unwonted
exposure. On the 20th, overcoats and pantaloons were dis-
tributed among the men, and on the 21st of September, the
Fourth regiment, numbering 1,042 officers and men, was
mustered into the service of the United States. A regi-
mental band of 24 pieces was organized with and accom-
panied the regiment. The regiment left Brattleboro for
Washington on the evening of the 21st, and arrived at Jersey
City, by steamer from New Haven, on the morning of the 23d.
The New York newspapers, as usual, praised its appear-
ance and discipline, as well as the completeness of its equip-
ment, in all which respects, they said, it rivaled the best
troops in the field. At Philadelphia an excellent supper was
served by the citizens and was appreciated by the men, who
had had little or nothing but dry bread since leaving Camp
Holbrook.
The regiment reached Washington Monday evening,
September 23d, having had on the whole a comfortable
160 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL \VAK.
journey from Vermont, and the next morning went into camp
on Capitol Hill, where it remained four days. On Saturday
morning, the 28th, an order came to strike tents and march
to Chain Bridge, where the Second, Third and Fifth regi-
ments were now encamped, the last of these having arrived
at Camp Advance the day before, though it left Vermont a
day or two later than the Fourth.
Here the men had their first experience in picket duty.
For the ten days following nothing occurred of more conse-
quence than the wounding of a man by the accidental dis-
charge of a musket in the hands of a comrade with whom he
was sparring bayonets. On the 9th of October the regiment
moved with General Smith's division to Lewinsville, Va.,
where the men lay on their arms all night, and suffered much
from cold. Next day they received their tents and went into
camp on Smoot's Hill, at Camp Griffin, the camp of the
First Vermont brigade which was organized about this time.
October 19th, seven companies of the Fourth accompa-
nied the Fifth regiment on a reconnoissance to Vienna, and
on the 24th the regiment participated in a Division review.
While the weather remained fine the health of the regi-
ment continued good ; but as the period of cold nights and
fall rains came on, the men began to sicken. On the 9th
of November, Surgeon Allen reported 200 men sick in hos-
pital, and within a month this number nearly doubled.
A more definite cause was assignable in the case of the
the Fourth, for the sickness then prevailing throughout the
Vermont brigade, than in the cases of some of the other
regiments. The water for the camp was supplied by a brook,
which received the surface water from a slope on which a
thousand cavalry horses had stood for two months previous.
That malarial epidemics should have been developed under
such circumstances was not surprising. Moreover some of the
men still lacked overcoats, and suffered from exposure. The
moving of the camp, about the middle of December, to a
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 161
pine grove on higher ground, together with an ample supply
of clothing received from Vermont, effected an immediate
change for the better. On the 13th of December there were
360 men of the Fourth in hospital. Two weeks later, on the
27th, there were but 60. Surgeons Allen and Child were
untiring in their labors, during this period of sickness, and
their skill and care is attested by the fact that of some 2,000
cases of sickness in two months — many of the men suffering
repeated attacks— but 26 proved fatal.
The regiment remained at Camp Griffin through the
winter, taking its turn once in five days on picket.
In January, 1862, owing, as it was reported, to some mis-
understanding with General Smith, Colonel Stoughton sent
in his resignation ; but subsequently withdrew it. On the
17th of January, Major Tyler resigned, and Adjutant Charles
B. Stoughton, who had shown decided aptitude for military
duties, was promoted to the vacancy.
On the 10th of March, the Fourth left Camp Griffin, in
the movement of the Army of the Potomac towards Manas-
sas. It camped that night at Flint Hill, north of Fairfax
Court House, where it remained until the 15th, and thence
marched to Cloud's Mills, four miles northwest of Alexandria.
On the 23d, it marched with the brigade to Alexandria and
embarked on transports for Fortress Monroe, arriving there
early on the morning of the 25th, and going into camp in a
grove of pines, about half way between Hampton and New-
port News. On the 27th the regiment went out with the
division, on a reconnoissance in force, bivouacking near Big
Bethel that night and returning next day to the camp near
Newport News. A week later, on the 4th of April, the regi-
ment marched in the grand advance of General McClellan's
army up the Peninsula, and bivouacked that night at Young's
Mills, near a Confederate earthwork which had been evac-
uated the day previous. Next day it marched through War-
wick Court House, and halted with the army before the
11
162 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
enemy's fortified line along Warwick Creek. Picket duty was
now performed in much closer proximity to the Confederate
pickets than heretofore; and on the 7th of April, private
Madison M. Myrick, of Co. C., a youth of 19, was shot
through the leg, by the enemy's pickets, being the first man
of the regiment hurt by a Confederate bullet.
On the 16th of April, the regiment went into its first
action, in the memorable engagement at Lee's Mill. It was
the first regiment of the brigade to move in the morning,
and the first shot was fired by Colonel St ought on.1 He had
deployed Companies B., Captain Platt, and G., Captain
Foster, as skirmishers, and accompanied them in person
through the woods to the edge of Warwick Creek, above the
dam. As they arrived in sight of the earthwork on the other
side, Colonel Stoughton took a musket from a man and dis-
charged it at the works, within which the morning ceremony
of guard-mounting was in progress. His men followed his
example, and drew from the enemy a brisk response, both of
small arms and artillery, till the latter was silenced by the
fire of the Vermonters, and by the Union batteries. At noon
Companies E. and K. relieved Companies B. and G., and
later in the day Companies D. and H. were sent to strengthen
the skirmish line. In the afternoon, after the failure of the
first assault, the remaining four companies, A., F., I. and C.,
advanced to the end of the dam to take part in the second
attempt to carry the Confederate works, but were withdrawn
by General Smith's order, before crossing the creek. The
loss of the regiment was two killed, David J. Dibble, and
Stephen B. Niles, both of Co. I.— each shot through the head
— and 10 wounded, one of whom, Franklin N. Grimes, of Co.
C., died of his wounds two weeks after. Among the severely
wounded was Captain H. B. Atherton, Company C, who re-
ceived a bullet in the groin, which passed into the pelvic
1 Letter of Assistant Surgeon Child to the Rutland Herald.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 163
cavity and occasioned his honorable discharge four months
later.
In the two weeks following, the regiment was chiefly
occupied in picket service and fatigue duty on the fortifica-
tions along Warwick Creek.
In the battle of Williamsburg, May 5th, an important
reconnoissance of the road by which General Hancock's
brigade afterward turned the enemy's left, was made by four
companies of the left wing of the regiment. Of the subse-
quent marching to and fatigue duty in front of Richmond
the regiment had its share ; and in the engagements at Gold-
ing's Farm, Savage's Station, and White Oak Swamp, on the
Seven Days' Eetreat, the Fourth had an honorable part, else-
where related. The regiment had one man killed May 23d,1
and five sick and three wounded men of the Fourth were
among the 2,500 sick and wounded Union soldiers who fell
into the hands of the enemy at Savage's Station, June 29th.
Lieut. Colonel Worthen, after an absence of several
weeks from the regiment, on sick leave — his illness dating
from the extraordinary fatigue of the march up the Peninsula
— resigned July 17th, on account of ill health. Major Charles
B. Stoughton was thereupon promoted to the lieutenant
colonelcy, and Captain George P. Foster of Company G., suc-
ceeded him as major.
The regiment remained at Harrison's Landing until
August 16th. The weather was hot, and the men had no
shelter from sun or rain — the tents of the brigade having
been left behind on the retreat. On the 16th of August it
moved with the Sixth corps down the Peninsula, reaching
Fortress Monroe, by easy marches, on the 22d, and leaving
next daj7 by transports for Acquia Creek.
The regiment shared the labors and the triumphs of the
First brigade in the Antietam campaign, during which it was
1 Sergeant Charles Whit well, Co; B.
164 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL AVAR.
commanded by Lieut. Colonel Stoughton, Colonel Stoughton
being absent. It distinguished itself especially in the storming
of Crampton's Gap, September 14th, when it captured on the
crest of the mountain a Confederate major, five line officers,
115 men and the colors of the Sixteenth Virginia, which are
preserved among the trophies of the Civil "War, in the War
Department at "Washington. The loss of the regiment that
day was one killed and 14 wounded, two of whom died of
their wounds.1
In the battle of Antietam, September 17th, the Fourth
had six men wounded, three of whom died of their wounds.9
Among the wounded was Second Lieutenant W. H. Martin,
of Company A.
During the thirty three days' stay of the Yermont brigade
at Hagerstown, Md., after Antietam, the Fourth received 109
recruits — a welcome accession, as its ranks had been much
reduced by death, wounds and sickness. The morning report
of September 20th, showed an aggregate of 798 officers and
men. Thirty-seven men of the Fourth were reported in the
hospitals in Philadelphia, October 7th, and many more were
in other hospitals or at home on sick leave.
On the 5th of November, Colonel E. H. Stoughton was
appointed Brigadier General of Yolunteers and assigned to
the command of the Second Yermont brigade, and his brother,
Lieut. Colonel Charles B. Stoughton, succeeded to the colo-
nelcy. He had shown coolness and capacity in action, and
was respected by his command as a brave soldier. Major
George P. Foster was thereupon appointed lieutenant colonel
and Captain Stephen M. Pingree, of Co. K., was promoted
to the majority. About this time, Chaplain Plympton re-
signed, and Eev. John L. Eoberts, a Methodist Episcopal
clergyman of Chelsea, was appointed chaplain in his place.
1M. F. Murray, Co. C., was killed, and D. C. Adams, and M. B. John-
son, Co. G., died of wounds.
5 C. Stockdale, Co. C.; V. W. Mayott, Co. G. and J. P. Harris, Co. H.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 165
The first week in November found the regiment back
near the Kappahannock, with the rest of the Sixth corps and
the army ; and there was little excitement till, on the llth of
December, Burn side made his disastrous attempt to force
the heights of Fredericksburg. On the 13th the Fourth
was sent out under command of Lieut. Colonel Foster (who
is mentioned as deserving of special praise in Colonel
Stoughton's report of the affair) on the skirmish line, in front
of General Howe's division of the Sixth corps, and suffered
severely, losing 11 killed and 45 wounded, three of whom
died of their wounds.1 Four men in one company, Co. B.,
were killed, and 14 wounded, by a single discharge of canis-
ter, and the regimental colors were riddled with canister shot
and musket balls. The color bearer was wounded, and the
colors were afterwards carried by Corporal Shay, of Co. B.
Among the killed was Captain George "W. Quimby, of Co. D.,
who was acting as major. While bravely discharging his
duties he was struck in the neck by a ball which cut the
jugular vein. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, was
Principal of Barton Academy previous to his enlistment, and
was a young man of fine abilities and estimable character.
His loss was deeply felt in the regiment.
On the 1st of January, 1863, the regiment being then in
camp at Belle Plain Ya., the morning report showed an
aggregate of 793 men, of whom 457 were present for duty.
Between the 17th and 22d of January it participated in Gen-
eral Burnside's " Mud Campaign." The regiment passed the
rest of the winter in camp, doing light guard and picket duty,
and giving some attention to drill.
In the storming of Marye's Heights at the Second Fred-
'The killed were : L. A. Davis, John H. Minott, Co. A.; R. A. Brock,
C. Cleveland, H. H. Johnson, E.M. Sprout, Co. B.,K R. Moulton, Co. D.;
J. Bruce, R. H. Dearborn, Co. G., and S. B. Ray, Co. I.
Those who died of wounds were : T. H. Joy, O. Pease, Co. F., and
H. O. Kent, Co. G.
166 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
ericksburg, May 3d, 1863, the Fourth was in the third line
of the assaulting column, and scaled the heights with the
loss of only one man wounded. In the engagement in front
of Banks's Ford, next day, the Fourth fought on fche extreme
left of the brigade, and lost one man killed,1 22 wounded and
seven missing. Among the wounded was Lieutenant Thomas
Ensworth, of Co. C. Colonel Stoughton. and Captain Addi-
son Brown, who was acting as inspector general on General
L. A. Grant's staff, were specially mentioned for gallantry in
this action, in the report of the brigade commander.
Notable among the many individual exploits in this
battle, was the capture, by Sergeant Eobert J. Coffey of
Company K., single handed, of a captain and lieutenant of
the Twenty-First North Carolina, and five privates of the
Eighth Louisiana. These, after the repulse of Hoke's and
Hays's brigades by the Vermont brigade, had sought shelter
in a ravine in front of the Fourth Vermont. Sergeant Coffey
who was among the skirmishers, came suddenly upon them,
ordered them to surrender, and when they complied, threw
their mueliets into the stream and secured the swords of the
officers before they discovered that he was alone, and then,
aided by some men of Company A., who came to his assist-
ance, secured and marched them all in, to their intense morti-
fication.
The regiment marched with the Sixth corps to Gettys-
burg, and was the only regiment of the old brigade actually
engaged on that field — this was on the skirmish line on the
extreme left, at the close of the third day. Its loss was one
man severely wounded.
In the famous affair at Funkstown, July 10th, Colonel
C. B. Stoughton received a severe wound from a bullet which
entered his forehead just above the right eye, causing the
loss of the eye, and his resignation six months later. The
1 Henry J. Bush, Co. F.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 167
regiment here lost one man killed ' and 23 wounded, one of
them mortally.
The Fourth went to New York city with the brigade in
August, to maintain order during the drafts. On the passage
seven companies, which were on the transport Illinois, nar-
rowly escaped shipwreck by a collision of the steamer with
a schooner laden with stone.
On the 24th of September, at Culpepper Court House,
Va., the regiment received an accession of nearly 200 recruits
and conscripts, which increased by a third the number pres-
ent for duty, and on the 1st of October the morning report
showed an aggregate of 774, of which number 649 were
present for duty.
On the llth of October, Commissary Sergeant H. W.
Spafford was captured by guerrillas near Brandy Station and
taken to Eichmond, where he was a prisoner for five months*
till paroled March 21st, 1864.
The Fourth spent the winter with the Sixth corps at
Brandy Station, Va., its numbers increasing slightly by the
addition of recruits, and its sick list diminishing, till on the
1st of May, at the opening of the Spring Campaign, the
number present for duty was 719, out of an aggregate of 839,
being the largest return of men present for duty known in
the history of the regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Foster was
in command of the regiment during the winter, Colonel
Stoughton being on leave and on special duty in New York
city. On the 2d of February, Colonel Stoughton resigned in
consequence of his wound, and Lieut. Colonel Foster be-
came colonel. On the 30th of April, Major Stephen M.
Pingree was promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy, and
Captain John E. Pratt of Company A. was appointed major.
The new commander, Colonel Foster, was a native of Walden.
i G. W. Ball, Co. C. was killed, and M. H. Bartlett, Co. C. mortally
wounded.
168 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
He had had an academic education in his youth, and the
subsequent training of a district school teacher in his open-
ing manhood. He enlisted in September, 1861, at the age of
25, and was chosen captain of his company. In the field he
soon won distinction as one of the coolest and most capable
of the line officers, and, though not the ranking captain, was
appointed major, for merit, upon the promotion of Major
Stoughton, in July, 1862. He had been lieutenant colonel
for fifteen months, and much of the time in command of the
regiment. Of stalwart proportions, and handsome face and
figure, he was one of the finest looking officers in the brigade.
He was a favorite with his men, distinguished himself as em-
phatically a fighting colonel, and won a brevet as brigadier
general, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Shenan-
doah Campaign, and before Petersburg.1
During the winter, 210 men of the original members of
the Fourth re-enlisted for the war.
On the 4th of May the brigade crossed the Eapidan at
Germania Ford, with about 600 muskets, and on the three
days following the regiment had its share in the battles of
the Wilderness, in which it suffered the greatest loss of offi-
cers of any regiment in the brigade, having 16 killed and
wounded, being over two-thirds of the number present for
duty. Colonel Foster was severely wrounded in the thigh in
the battle of the 5th, and during the remainder of the battle
the regiment was commanded by Major Pratt. Captains W.
D. Carpenter, Dennis W. Farr and Daniel Lillie, and Lieute-
nants L. A. Putnam, T. Ensworth, W. L. Wooster and W. H.
Martin were killed or mortally wounded. Captains George
H. Amidon and A. W. Fisher, Adjutant G. B. French and
1 General Foster returned to Vermont with his regiment at the close of
the war, and afterwards, for nine years, from 1870 until his death, March
19th, 1879, held the office of U. S. Marshal of the District of Vermont.
In this he won additional distinction by his bold arrest of the Fenian com-
mander, General O'Neill, in the midst of his army, during the Fenian in-
vasion of Canada, in 1870.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 169
Lieutenants E. W. Carter, J. B. Brooks, L. B. Scott, W. C.
Tracy, H. W. Morton and L. F. Richardson were wounded,
and the casualties of the regiment reached the mournful total
of 257, or over forty per cent of its effective force. Of these
34 were killed, 194 wounded, of whom 45 died of their
wounds, and 29 missing, some of whom were probably killed.1
Among the officers specially mentioned for gallantry by
the Brigade commander was Captain A. Brown of the Fourth
wrho was on the General's staff and for some time the only
staff officer fit for duty, the two other aids having been
wounded and captured during the first day's battle. Quarter-
master Henry T. Cushman is also mentioned as having ren-
dered efficient service on the staff of the brigade commander.
The regiment marched during the night of May 7th, to
Chancellorsville, where the brigade was detached to guard the
train of the Sixth corps. In the morning of the 9th the
Fourth under Major Pratt, was deployed on the skirmish
line while the brigade fortified its position, and lost several
men. Among the killed was Sergeant William Cunningham,
Co. D., who was one of the most brave and zealous men in
1 The rank and file killed in the Wilderness were: Co. A-O.
H. Barnes, G. Bracy, J. Leazer ; Co. C— L. A. Bryant, A. Burt ; Co. D—
J. Streeter; Co. E— F. Eastman, L. Spencer; Co. F— M. C. Chapman,
W. H. Haraden, L. W. Kendall, W. H. Roberts; Co. G— H. H. Dun.
ton, E. W. Ormsby 3d, P. Sullivan, S. Webber ; Co. H— W. S. Aiken, W.
W. Heath, L. B. Paquette, D. O. Perry, A. Snow, B. B. Wilson ; Co. I—
.J. R. Campbell, D. H. Jones, J. Streeter, J. B. Webster; Co. K— J. J.
Chadwick, A. Eastman, T. Lowler, A. D. Smith.
The following died of their wounds : Co. A— S. A. Capron, H. Fales, H.N.
Woodworth, H. York; Co. B— H. M. Smith; Co. C— J. W. Blanchard, L.
Carpenter, T. Eagan, L. W. Griswold, J. B. H. Larrabee, J. A. Miller, E.
Robinson, R. Wickware ; Co. D— J. Ball, W. J. Cutting ; J. Edson, T W.
Griffin, J. H. Hulburt, R. Rodger, N. P. Walker ; Co. E— S. Barnard,
T. S. Grover, W. H. Jones, I. A. Stevens; Co. F— G. W. Hill, J.
Huutington; Co. G— H. C. Magoon, W. H. H. Marsh, W. E. Parrish;
Co. H— N. Bailey, F. Cudworth, S. W. Leighton, E. Robinson, J. F. Ryder,
D. F. Skinner, J. Wilmot; Co. I— G. T. Abbott,* N. Amlaw, E. G. Carpen.
ter, L. G. Kellogg; Co. K— H. Amidon, J. M. Montgomery, P. F. Pierce.
* " Severely wounded " May 5— not heard of after.
170 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
the regiment. The regiment held the skirmish line until the
afternoon of the next day, during which the Union line was
advanced and the enemy's skirmishers driven back to his
line of works, for which the Fourth received high commend-
ation.
On the 12th, at Spottsylvania, the Fourth fought in the
front line, and its losses in that week of almost constant
fighting were four killed and 44 wounded, 13 of whom died
of their wounds.1 At Cold Harbor it was again engaged,
losing one man killed on the skirmish line and seven wounded,
six of whom died of their wounds.2 Lieutenant A. K. Par-
sons of Co. A., detailed as aide-de-camp on the staff of
General "W. T. H. Brooks, commanding the First division of
the Eighteenth Army Corps, was killed while gallantly dis-
charging his duties during the charge of Brooks's division in
the morning of the 3d.
On the 16th the regiment crossed the James with the
brigade, in the movement of the division to Petersburg,
where on the 23d, the regiment suffered the greatest loss
of men by capture it ever experienced. It was engaged
with the brigade and the Sixth corps in a movement against
the Weldon Railroad, and was thrown out in front under
command of Major Pratt, with a battalion of the Eleventh.
The enemy broke through the line with a strong force, and
surrounded and captured seven officers and 137 men of the
Fourth, as well as almost the entire battalion of the Eleventh.
The colors of the Fourth were saved by the activity and
1 The killed at Spottsylvania were ; O. Burt, W. Cunningham, Co. D.j
S. H. Thompson, Co. H.; C. M. Landers, Co. I.
Those dying of their wounds were : J. Hofnagle, E. Knapp, Co. A.;
S. C. Edwards, Co. C.; T. R. Boutwell, E. E. Hartson, M. McGuire, E. M.
Robbins, Co. D.; J. Kelly, T. W. Hall, Co. E.; H. O. Marsh, G. E. Stone,
Co. G.; T. \V. Hall, Co. I., and C. E. Prouty, Co. H.
2 A. M. Ford, Co. K., was killed at Cold Harbor and C. H. Perry, W.
B. Stevens, J. P. Woodbury, Co. G.; D. Barton, P. [Smith, and L. Stearns
Co. K., died of wounds.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 171
coolness of the color guard. The officers so captured were
Major Pratt, Captains Chapin and Bontin, and Lieutenants
Carr, Fisher, Needham and Pierce.
Among the killed was Captain William C. Tracy, of
Co. G. His dead body was found on the field next day,
stripped of arms, watch, money and boots, and surrounded
by the muskets of his men, showing that he had rallied his
company around him, and that they threw down their arms
only when their gallant leader had fallen. Captain Tracy
was a son of the late E. C. Tracy, of Windsor, long editor of
the Vermont Chronicle, and a great grandson of Roger Sher-
man. He was a remarkably brave, modest, intelligent and
capable officer. He entered the service as second lieutenant
in Co. K., was made first lieutenant of Co. H., in November,
1862, and had been recently promoted to a captaincy for
meritorious service in the Wilderness. He was acting adjut-
ant of the regiment after the Wilderness, carrying the while,
imbedded in his face, a buckshot received in that battle.
His death was a severe loss to the command.
Three men of the Fourth were killed, and several wound-
ed, three of them mortally, this day.1 Among the wounded was
Captain Charles G. Fisher, of Co. I. The aggregate loss of
the regiment in this affair was 153 men, out of about 200
taken out to the skirmish line. One company, Co. E., escaped
entire. The roll call next morning showed but 67 muskets
left in line, with three commissioned officers, lieutenants,
present for duty, and the regiment was consolidated into a
little battalion of two companies, the men left of companies
E., K. and G., forming one, and those of the seven other
companies, another ; all under the temporary command of
Captain Addison Brown, Jr.
'C. A. Smith, Co. C., G. H. Cushman, Co. G., O. W. Payne, Co. K.,
were killed. Those dying of their wounds were J. Minott, Co. A., J. N.
Lease. Co. D., W. J. Sly, Co. H.
172 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
It is one of the sad duties of the historian to mention
the mournful fact, that of the men so captured, no less than
sixty-five, being nearly one half of the number, died in Con-
federate prisons. The names of these martyrs, with the dates
of their deaths, so far as known, are as follows. Most of them
died in the prison pen of Andersonville, Ga.
DIED IN OONFEDEEATE PRISONS.
[Captured June 23, 1864.]
Company A.— G. Baxter, died Jan. 6, '65; C. B. Buxton, Oct. 6, '64;
A. Ranney, Oct. 24, '64 ; W. A Webster, Oct. 9, '64 ; S. F. Dunbar, (at Wil-
mington, N. C.,) Mar. 18, '65; P. Bemis, J. Blair, C. Burnham, H. L.
Veber, N. Mann, Dec. 31, '64; N. L. Webster, Dec. 23, '64.— 11.
Company C.—E. S. Palmer, Aug. 23, '64; B. H. Patch, Oct. 20, '64;
F. Pillsbury, Sept. 29, '64 ; C. F. Hatch.— 4.
Company D.— E. Bailey, Feb. 3, '65 ; C. Bunker, Oct. 11, '64 ; F. F.
Dewey, Aug. 25, '64 ; P. H. Farrell, Oct. 22, '64 ; C. E. Lumsden, Feb. 8,
'65 ; C. O. Blodgett, H. W. Varney, Dec. 20, '64.— 7.
Company F.— A. L. Bontell, Oct. 1, '64; J. Clifford, C. W. Elliott,
Oct., '64; C. A. Ferguson, Oct., '64, J. A. Ingraham, Oct., '64; F. W.
Rice, Oct. 31, '64; We Ryerson, Oct. 31, '64; Royal O. Scott, Dec. 12,
'64; T. B. Sexton, Sept. 11, '64; G. A. Wells, Sept., '64; J. M. Woods,
Oct., '64; T. Young, Feb. 25, '65 ; A. F. Bailey, Jan. 22, 65, (at Salisbury,
N. C.); J. F. Drury, Feb. 11, '65; W. C. Stevens.— 15.
Company G.—J. E. Paul, Oct. 2, '64; H. M. Sanborn, Oct. 11, '64;
W. Twaddle, Oct. 26, '64; E. G. Williams, Nov. 24, '64, at Florence,
S. C. ; S. W. Rollins, Jan. 14, '65 ; O. Nelson.— 6.
Company H.— E. P. Gerry, Jan. 26, '65; A. B. Perry, Mar. 3, '65;
F. A. Skinner, Aug., '64; W. A- Smith, Aug., '64; J. H. Wakefield, Oct.
21, '64; J. H. Eaton, E. H. Preston, (at Millen, Ga.) ; J. M. Hibbard.— 8.
Company I.— S. H. Nelson, Dec. 13, '64; E. W. Paige, Oct. 17, '64;
N. T. Pike, Nov. 30, '64 ; W. A. Thompson, Oct. 20, '64 ; N. J. Howard,
Oct. 23, '64, (Millen) ; J. C. Hogan.— 6.
Company K.— W. P. Fisk, Oct. 14, '64; C. V. Flint, Oct. 23, '64.
A. B. Stile, Oct. 12, '64.— 3.
J. Smith, Co. A., and R. J. Round, Co. H., were captured that day,
and not heard from after. They probably died in the enemy's hands.
Zclotes Drown and S. B. Rogers, Co. D., and G. H. Esterbrooks, Co. I.,
who died in March, '65, are believed to have died from the results of their
imprisonment, if not actually in prison.
On the 30th of June, the morning report showed 282
men present for duty, out of an aggregate of 716. The list
of sick and wounded numbered 275. The Fourth, what was
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 173
left of it, went with the Sixth corps to Washington, in July,
to head off Early's raid, shared the hard marching in Mary-
land and the Shenandoah Valley which followed; and on
the 21st of August, at Charlestown, Ya., formed part of the
skirmish line which drove the enemy's skirmishers for a mile,
and held its ground all day, in front of a hostile line of battle
with artillery. Its loss this day was one officer killed, Lieu-
tenant Luther B. Scott, of Co. E., — a brave young soldier
who went out from Cabot as a private — and 10 men wounded,
one fatally.1
The Fourth had an honorable part in Sheridan's cam-
paign in the Shenandoah Valley, and lost at Winchester,
September 19th, Lieutenant Ransom W. Towle2 of Company
E. mortally wounded, and two men killed 3 and 14 wounded.
Next day, September 20th, 1864, the three years' term
of the original members of the regiment expired. Of these
210 had re-enlisted. The surviving remainder, numbering
10 officers — viz : Lieut. Colonel S. M. Pingree, Adjutant
G. B. French, Quartermaster H. T. Cushman, Surgeon S. J.
Allen, Ass't Surgeon A. B. Bixby, Captain A. W. Fisher,
First Lieutenants A. K. Nichols and W. W. Morton ; Second
Lieutenants F. Hastings and W. E. Eussell — and 136 men,
started for Vermont, September 21st. They arrived at Brat-
tleboro, September 29th, when they were received by the
citizens with an address of welcome by Hon. S. M. Waite,
and next day were honorably mustered out of the service,
and dispersed to their homes.
The regiment after the departure of those whose time
1 Joseph Marson, Co. H.
2 Lieutenant Towle enlisted as a private, from Rochester, Vt. , at the
age of 25, was promoted sergeant September 21, 1861; was wounded at
Savage's Station, Ya. June 29th, 1862, and was promoted second lieu-
tenant Co. A. May 17, 1864. He was a hrave and meritorious officer.
3 Zacheus Blood and C. A. Blanchard, Co. C. The latter is recorded
as killed near Winchester, September 13, 1864.
174 YERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
had expired, still had an aggregate of 550 men, of which
number, however, only about 200 were present for duty — 144
being still in the hands of the enemy, and 200 sick. The
regiment fought at Fisher's Hill, September 21st and 22d,
and at Cedar Creek, October 19th, where it lost six men
killed and 20 wounded, two of whom died of their wounds.
Among the wounded was Captain George H. Amidon of Com-
pany E., detailed on General Grant's staff, and Captain Aikens
of Company A., who received a wound which occasioned his
honorable discharge five months later.1 At Cedar Creek,
Colonel Foster being in command of the picket line, the regi-
ment was placed with the Third under command of Major
Floyd of the Third.
The vote of the men of the Fourth in the field, for Presi-
dent, in the national election of November, 1864, was notice-
able as giving a democratic majority. It stood, for McClellan
74 ; for Lincoln 64.
The regiment remained with the Sixth corps in the
Shenandoah Valley for six weeks after the close of Sheridan's
victorious campaign, until the 9th of December, when it re-
turned, with the brigade, to the lines of the Army of the
Potomac before Petersburg, and went into camp and winter
quarters near the " Squirrel Level Koad " on the south of the
city. The men had severe picket service through the winter,
besides doing a good deal of fatigue duty on the fortifications.
On the 25th of February 1865, the ten existing compa-
nies of the regiment were consolidated under the orders of
the War Department into eight, the men of companies I. and
K. being distributed among the other companies. The Se-
cond and Third Vermont companies of Sharp-shooters, num-
1 The rank and file killed at Cedar Creek were C. Camp, Co. A.; J. Gill,
Co. C.; N. B. Hudson, Co. D.; L. Edwards, Co. G.; T. J. Burnham, Co. I.;
K. Badger, Co. K.
Those who died of wounds were C. O. Gibson, Co. H.: R F. Rich,
Co. K.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 175
bering 166 men, were at the same time transferred to the
Fourth regiment, increasing its aggregate to 757, of which
number, however, but 365 were present for duty, the sick
list comprising 250 men. In March, 40 of the men captured
in the affair on the Weldon Railroad in June 1864, having
been exchanged, rejoined the command.
The Fourth had an honorable share in the important
and successful assault on the entrenched picket line in front
of Fort Fisher, March 25th, and in the repulse of the enemy's
attempt to retake a portion of the line on the 27th. In this
last skirmish, Lieutenant Charles H. Carlton and five men
were wounded. Two men of the Fourth were wounded on
the 25th.
In the final triumphant assault of April 2d on tho de-
fences of Petersburg, which resulted in the fall of Richmond,
the Fourth was commanded by Captain Geo. H. Amidon,
no field officer being present.1 The regiment was actively
engaged and lost one man killed and two officers, Lieute-
nants "W. H. Humphrey and W. T. Tilson, and nine men
wounded, one of whom died of his wounds.2 Fuller details
of this and the other battles in which the regiment took part,
will be found in the history of the First brigade, in subse-
quent chapters of this history.
The regiment was at Sailor's Creek, with the Sixth
corps ; guarded army supplies at Farmville, Ya., after the sur-
render of Lee's army ; marched with the brigade to Danville,
Ya., and thence May 24th, to the camp at Munson's Hill, near
"Washington, where it remained till mustered out of service.
It participated in the review of the First Yermont brigade
and other Yermont regiments by Governor Smith and Adj't.
1 Col. Foster was in Vermont on an 18 days' leave of absence. Lieut.
Colonel Pratt was a paroled prisoner, on leave of absence. The regiment
had no major, at this time.
°H. G. Fillebrown, Co. C., was killed, and D. Mahoney, Co. A., died
of his wounds.
176 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
General Washburn, at Bailey's Cross Roads, Va., June 7th,
and in the review of the Sixth corps by the President of the
United States, at Washington, June 8th.
The morning report of the 6th of June, 1865, showed
an aggregate of 693 men, with a sick list of 230, and 47 men
still reported as "prisoners," being men of whom the last
known was that they were in Confederate prisons. The re-
cruits of the Fourth, 154 in number, whose terms of service
were to expire previous to October 1, 1865, were mustered
out of the U. S. Service, June 19, 1865. The remainder
were mustered out July 13, 1865 ; and all who were able to
travel departed at once for Vermont, under command of
General Foster. They arrived, 300 in number, at New York,
July 14th, and at Burlington, July 16th, where they had a
cordial reception with an address of welcome by Rev. A. L.
Cooper of the Pine Street M. E. Church, and a collation
provided by the ladies of Burlington, in the town hall.
Flowers and waving handkerchiefs and songs of glad greet-
ing expressed the cordial welcome accorded to the veterans,
and General Foster, as he entered the hall with the slio!:-torn
headquarters flag of the old Vermont brigade, had a special
greeting of enthusiastic cheers from the assembly. From
the town hall the regiment marched to its quarters at the
Marine Hospital, where the men were paid off during the
week following.
The field and staff officers returning with the regiment
were Colonel and Bvt. Brig. General George P. Foster, Lieut.
Colonel John E. Pratt, Major Charles W. Bontin, Adjutant
James Gallagher, Quartermaster H. AV. Spafford, Surgeon
E. M. Curtis, and Chaplain John L. Roberts. Of these, all
but the chaplain and quartermaster went out with the regi-
ment in 1 861 — the colonel and lieutenant colonel as captains
of Companies G. and A., and Major Bontin as first lieutenant
of Company B. Surgeon Curtis went out as hospital steward,
was appointed assistant surgeon of the Sixth regiment in
THE FOUKTH KEGIMENT. 177
January, 1863, and returned to the Fourth as surgeon in
October, 1864. Quartermaster Spafford enlisted as a private,
was appointed commissary sergeant in October, 1864,
and was promoted quartermaster on the 4th of November
following. The line officers returning were Captains L. W.
Fisher, A. K. Nichols, Howard C. Chapin, W. TV. Pierce,
George H. Amidon, Charles G. Fisher, S. F. Norton and
TV. TV. Smith ; and Lieutenants B. TV. Chamberlain, George
P. Spaulding, C. C. Chapin, Charles A. Dam, Charles H.
Newton, Joseph B. Needham and Curtis Abbott. All of
these, except Captain Nichols who was appointed early in
1865, enlisted as privates in the summer and fall of 1861.
Captains Norton and Smith and Lieutenant Abbott, after
having served for over three years in the Second U. S. Sharp-
shooters, were transferred without change of rank to the
Fourth regiment, in February, 1865.
The names of 65 men of the Fourth have been hereto-
fore printed, who died in Confederate prison pens. To them
are to be added the following :
DIED IN CONFEDEEATE PEI8ONS.
W. A. Comar, L. H. Bowles, Co. A., died Aug. 26, '64; Reuben Ladd,
Co. C., died Dec. 8, '63; W. C. Stevens and O. A. Wilson, Co. F.; J.
Boyce, Co. I.
178 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The battles in which the Fourth regiment took part were
as follows :
THE BATTLES OF THE FOTTETH VERMONT.
Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862.
Wiiliamsburg, May 5, 1862.
Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862.
Savage's Station, June 29, 1862.
White Oak Swamp, - - June 30, 1862.
Crampton's Gap. Sept. 14, 1862.
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862.
Fredericksburg, Dec. 13. 1882.
Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863.
Salem Heights, May 4, 1863.
Fredericksburg, - - ' - - - - - - . June 5, 1863.
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
Funkstown, July 10. 1863.
Rappahannock Station, Nov. 7, 1863.
Wilderness, May 5 to 10, 1864.
Spottsylvania, May 10 to 18, 1864.
Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864.
Petersburg, June 18, 1864.
Weldon Railroad, June 23, 1864.
Charlestown, August 21, 1864.
Opequan, Sept. 13, 1864.
Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864.
Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864.
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864.
Petersburg, March 25 and 27, 1865.
Petersburg, ......... April 2, 1865.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT. 179
The final statement of the Fourth regiment is as follows :
FINAL STATEMENT.
Original members— com. officers 38 ; enlisted men 1010, total, 1048
Gain — recruits 602, transfers from other regiments 203, total, 805
Aggregate, 1853
LOSSES.
Killed in action — com. officers 8; enlisted men 66, total, 74
Died of wounds — com. officers 4; enlisted men 83, total, 87
Died of disease— enlisted men, 195
Died (unwounded) in Confederate prisons, enlisted men, 71
Died from accidents, enlisted men, 2
Total of deaths, 429
Promoted to other regiments— officers 6 ; enlisted men 8, total, 14
Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, Navy, Regular Army, etc., 93
Honorably discharged— com. officers resigned 22 , for wounds and
disability 7; enlisted men, for wounds 69; for disability 373,
total, 471
Dishonorably discharged— com. officers 1 ; enlisted men 5, 6
Total discharged, 477
Deserted 118 ; unaccounted for 5, 123
Mustered out— com. officers 39 ; enlisted men 678, total 717
Aggregate, 1853
Total wounded, 414
Total re-enlisted... 210
CHAPTEK IX.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT.
Composition of the Regiment — Rendezvous at St. Albans — Field and Staff
— Departure for Washington — March to Chain Bridge — Sickness at
Camp Griffin— The Spring Campaign of '62— Lee's Mill— Golding's
Farm — Hard Fighting and Terrible Loss at Savage's Station — Resigna-
tion of Colonel Smalley and Changes of field Officers — The Maryland
Campaign — Back to Virginia — First Fredericksburg — Marye's Height
and Banks's Ford— Crossing the Rappahannock and Capturing Missis-
sippians — Gettysburg and Funkstown — Rappahannock Station — Re-
enlisting for the War — Furlough and Visit to Vermont — Return to
Virginia — Losses in the Wilderness and in the Lines of Spottsylvania
— Death and Sketch of Major Dudley — Cold Harbor, Petersburg and
Charlestown — Expiration of Three Years' Term — The Shenandoah
Campaign — Final Assault at Petersburg — End of the War and Return
Home.
The Fifth regiment, like the Fourth, was raised in obe-
dience to Governor Fairbanks's proclamation of July 21st,
1861. It was composed of companies recruited in the towns
of Hyde Park, Manchester, Cornwall, Eutland, St. Albans,
Brandon, Middlebury, Swanton, Kichmond and Burlington,
and towns adjoining those. So fully had the citizens re-
sponded to the Governor's appeal that in six weeks two hun-
dred and fifty more men had enlisted than were needed to
fill the two regiments. The Fifth was ordered to rendez-
vous at St. Albans, and by the llth of September, the com-
panies began to arrive there. The 14th of September saw
the whole regiment in camp a mile north of the village on
land belonging to Henry Seymour, Esq. The camp was
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 181
named Camp Holbrook in honor of the newly elected Gover-
nor. The regiment was mustered in on the 16th and 17th
of September, by Lieutenant Geo. H. Higbee, of the llth U.
S. Infantry, with 1006 officers and men. Thirty recruits were
added in the two weeks following. A regimental band of
twenty pieces, under the leadership of J. Bice, of Montpelier,
was mustered with the regiment.
Governor Fairbanks considered himself fortunate in
securing for colonel of the Fifth, an officer of the regular
army, in the person of Lieutenant Henry A. Smalley, Second
U. S. Artillery. Lieutenant Smalley was a native of Bur-
lington, the eldest son of U. S. Judge David A. Smalley,
and was now in his twenty-eighth year. He graduated from
the United States Military Academy in 1854, was brevetted
as second lieutenant of the First Artillery ; and on the 25th
of April 1861, was appointed first lieutenant in the Second
Artillery. He was detailed from his regiment at this time
as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Dix, at Baltimore,
and had been recommended for the command of a regiment
by General Scott. His commission as colonel of the Fifth
Yermont bore date of July 30th, 1861, ante-dating his ap-
pointment by several weeks. He was mustered in and
assumed command of the regiment on the 15th of September.
Captain Nathan Lord, Jr., youngest son of President Lord
of Dartmouth College, who had seen some service under
General McClellan in West Yirginia, was appointed lieu-
tenant colonel, but had hardly accepted the position when
he was taken from it to command the Sixth regiment, then
about to be organized. Lewis A. Grant, Esq., of Eocking-
ham, who had been selected for major, was thereupon ap-
pointed lieutenant colonel, and Kedfield Proctor, recently the
quartermaster of the Third regiment, was appointed major.
The regimental staff was as follows : Adjutant Edward M.
Brown, of Montpelier ; Quartermaster Aldis O. Brainerd, of
St. Albans; Surgeon Wm. P. Ptussell, of Middlebury; As-
182 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
sistant Surgeon Henry C. Shaw, of Waitsfield ; Chaplain,
Rev. Volney M. Simons, a Methodist clergyman of Swanton.
Of the line officers, a number had seen service in the
First regiment, six of the captains, Captains Chandler, Cook,
Sheridan, Lewis, Seagar and Dudley, and several lieutenants,
having been members of that regiment.
On the 17th of September, under urgent directions from
the Secretary of War to forward all available troops at once,
with assurances that any deficiencies in arms and equip-
ments would be supplied at Washington, Governor Fair-
banks ordered the regiment to move to Washington at once ;
but upon the earnest representation of its officers that the
regiment was in no condition to take the field, he changed
his order to one to move as soon as possible, leaving the
precise time subject to Colonel Smalley's discretion. On the
18th and 19th of September, the regiment was armed with
the guns brought home by the First regiment, as far as they
would go — the armament being completed by a supply of
250 Enfield rifles, after the arrival of the regiment at Wash-
ington. On the 20th and 21st the uniforms — blouses and
pants, of army blue — were distributed,1 and Monday morn-
ing, September 23d, the regiment started for Washington.
Before leaving, a paper signed by the Colonel and most of
the officers, was addressed to Governor Fairbanks, express-
ing appreciation of his untiring efforts to forward the de-
parture of the command, and regret that " circumstances had
been such as to imperatively forbid an earlier departure."
The regiment went by rail, over the Yermont Central
Railroad, filling two trains. It arrived at New Haven, Conn.,
Tuesday morning ; embarked at once on the Sound steamer
" Elm City," reached Jersey City at noon, and thence pro-
ceeded by rail to Washington, arriving there on the evening
of September 25th.
1 Coats and overcoats were supplied later at Washington.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 183
The weather was fine throughout the whole trip, and all
the way to Baltimore the regiment met an enthusiastic recep-
tion. Kefreshments were sent on board the trains at Bellows
Falls, by the citizens of that village ; at Jersey City the
people turned out in thousands to greet the troops ; and a
hearty meal was furnished at Philadelphia by the citizens of
that patriotic city, who allowed no regiment to leave their
city hungry. On its arrival at Washington, the regiment was
quartered for the night in the large building known as the
" Soldier's Best," where, however, the only inducements to
rest were close quarters, bare planks, and the fatigue of
the long journey. The next day the regiment marched out
to Camp Casey, on Capitol Hill, then covered with the tents
of the army as far as the eye could reach. On the 27th the
regiment had a tedious march of seven hours in a driving
rain, to Chain Bridge. The distance was only eight miles ;
but the guide, becoming confused in the darkness, led the
regiment out of its way, and it was after ten o'clock at
night when the men lay down to rest on the wet ground with-
out supper or shelter. The regiment went into camp the
next day at Camp Advance, on the Virginia side of the river,
close by the camps of the Second and Third regiments.
Here it remained ten days, devoted chiefly to drill and fell-
ing of the woods near the camps. On the 9th of October,
the Fifth moved out to Smoot's Hill, so called from its former
secessionist owner ; and went into camp at " Camp Griffin,"
surrounded by the camps of the Second, Third and Fourth
regiments, and with the camps of nearly the whole of General
Smith's division, of some twenty thousand men, in sight from
the top of the hill.
Not a little impatience and anxiety prevailed at this time
in the regiment over the delay in the clothing and equipment.
Three companies were as yet without muskets, and all without
overcoats. The weather, fortunately, was not severe; and
during the last half of October, coats, overcoats and under-
184 VEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
clothing were received and distributed, and the deficiency in
arms supplied. During the fine October weather, the men
were exercised in frequent drills and, largely by the efforts of
Lieut. Colonel Grant, Colonel Smalley being indisposed and
absent most of the fall, the regiment was brought into an ex-
cellent condition of drill and discipline.
With November came cold nights and frequent rains
which soon affected the health of the command. On the
10th of November, the morning report showed 250 men, or
nearly a third of the regiment, excused from duty on account
of sickness, seventy of them being in hospital with typhoid
and other fevers, and measles. Several deaths occurred.
The hospital tents were overcrowded with patients, and the
sicker men were removed to a deserted mansion, two miles
from camp. The picket duty was lessened ; and untiring
efforts and care were exercised by the surgeons and officers
to promote the health of the men ; but the illness and mor-
tality continued to be alarming. • Up to the 23d of November
the deaths numbered seventeen. On the 2d of January, Dr.
E. E. Phelps of Windsor, who had been sent from Vermont
by Governor Holbrook to investigate the condition of the
Vermont troops, reported a larger number of sick in the Fifth
and Sixth regiments than in the other regiments of the
brigade, from 220 to 250 in each being excused from duty,
and over 60 of the Fifth being in hospital.
From that time on, however, the health of the men
gradually improved, and though there were occasional relaps-
es, in times of exceptionally bad weather, the remainder of
the winter was passed in comparative health and comfort,
and with no harder service than occasional picket duty.
Colonel Smalley rejoined the command in improved
health, during the latter part of January. On the 22d of
February, after listening, with the rest of the brigade, stand-
ing in the mud, to the reading of Washington's Farewell
Address, the regiment further celebrated the birthday of the
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 185
Father of his Country by foot and sack races, scrambling for
a greased pig, and a rousing game of foot ball.
On the 10th of March the Fifth left Camp Griffin with
the Vermont brigade, moving with it to Flint Hill, Cloud's
Mills and Alexandria, where it spent the night of March
15th in the market house, and was quartered the next day in
a church. Thence it went to Fortress Monroe by transports,
and marched up the Peninsula with the army. At Young's
Mills, where the first hostile fortifications were struck, the
Fifth charged a stockaded work, which, however, proved to
have been abandoned by the enemy. Here a shot fired by a
rebel cavalry picket, retiring before the advance of the regi-
ment, took effect in the shoulder of private Peter Brady of
Company G. — the first man of the Fifth hurt by a hostile
bullet.
In the action at Lee's Mill, six companies of the Fifth,
under Colonel Smalley, the other four being out on picket,
were stationed in the rear of the batteries in the woods.
During the forenoon 60 men, 10 from each company, under
command of Captain Dudley, assisted by Lieutenant William
P. Spaulding of Company I., were taken to act as sharp-
shooters, to silence the "one gun battery" which commanded
the causeway across the creek. They went down under a
sharp fire of shell and canister, to the edge of the river
below the dam, where they took position, and by picking off
the enemy's cannoneers kept the gun silent for hours. About
four o'clock, having exhausted their ammunition, the detach-
ment was relieved by an equal number selected in like man-
ner. In the performance of this service privates James W.
Russell of Company K. and William Henry of Company C.
were killed — the first men of the regiment killed in action —
and seven were wounded, four of them severely. In the final
assault on the enemy's works the Fifth moved to the support
of the Sixth ; but did not become engaged, and at ten o'clock
186 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
in the evening was withdrawn to its camp.1 Lieutenant
Colonel L. A. Grant was brigade field officer of the day, and
as such had general supervision of the skirmish line of the
brigade till the close of the fighting.
"When the enemy evacuated the line of Warwick Creek,
the Fifth was the first regiment of General Smith's division
sent across the creek to occupy the abandoned works.
The return of the regiment to the adjutant general,
April 30th, 1862, showed an aggregate of 830 officers and
men, of whom 729 were reported present for duty. Of the
remainder, 96 were sick and five disabled by wounds.
The Fifth was at Williamsburg with the brigade May
5th. The regiment had its share of the fatigue and exposure
of the march up the Peninsula. Colonel Smalley and Lieut.
Colonel Grant were both disabled by illness during the last
half of May, and the regiment was for several weeks ably
commanded by Lieut. Colonel Yeazey of the Third. Quarter-
master Brainerd was compelled to resign in May on account
of ill health, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Adoniram
Austin of Company K. who had been for some months ac-
ting as assistant quartermaster. On the 24th of May, Rev.
Charles S. Hale of Brandon, a young Episcopal clergyman,
was appointed chaplain, in place of Chaplain Simons who had
resigned in March, having been selected for the office by
'The staff and line officers of the regiment in March, 1862, procured
and tendered to Colonel Smalley, as a token of their regard, a handsome
sabre, belt and sash. He declined to receive it at that time, saying:
"After any action with the enemy in which we may be engaged, should
you then preserve the same high opinion of me you now entertain, I shall
be proud and happy to accept any evidence of it." After the action at
Lee's Mill, the tender of the testimonial was renewed by the committee of
the officers having it In charge, and it was accepted by Colonel Smalley. In
his reply to a highly complimentary letter of presentation, he said: " I feel
that I may now accept the very handsome present which you have brought.
Our regiment has been twice face to face with the enemy, and officers and
men have more than justified my hopes. That I have in the open field
added to your confidence is gratifying."
THE FIFTH KEGIMENT. 187
formal vote of the line officers. On the 30th of May the re-
giment was sent out from its camp near the new bridge on
the Chickahominy river for four or five miles up the river
to Mechanicsville, as guard to a party of engineers. They
were shelled for two hours by a rebel battery, but only one
man was wounded,1 and that slightly. Colonel Yeazey had
a narrow escape, his cap being struck from his head by a
piece of a shell. The regiment marched back to camp in a
fearful thunder storm ; and the experience was quite an exci-
ting one.
The Fifth was in camp near Gaines's Mill and Cold
Harbor on the left bank of the Chickahominy, while the
battle of Fair Oaks wras fought, four miles away across the
river, on the 31st of May and 1st of June.
On the 5th of June the regiment crossed the Chicka-
hominy with the brigade, and camped in a pleasant spot on
the right bank, near the river. The Fifth was in camp
with the brigade at Golding's farm, when the seven days of
fighting and retreat commenced. On the 27th it was one
of the regiments brought up to support Hancock's brigade
during the assault on the line of the division at Golding's
farm ; but only two companies, I. and C., became engaged.
The regiment lay on its arms all that night, two companies
being thrown out into the swamp on picket. The next day it
was under sharp artillery fire and lost one man killed.2
At Savage's Station, June 29th, the regiment rendered
important and memorable service, elsewhere more fully
described, and in the course of half an hour suffered the
greatest loss of men killed and wounded ever endured by any
Vermont regiment in a single action. The regiment was com-
manded by Lieut. Colonel Grant, who was the only field
officer present, Colonel Smalley being absent and Major
1 Orderly Sergeant O. B. Reynolds of Co. B.
2 Andrew Laffie, Co. H.
188 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Proctor seriously ill and absent on sick leave. The regiment
took into the battle not over 400 muskets, and lost 45 offi-
cers and men killed and 143 wounded, of whom 27 died of
their wounds. Company E. lost no less than 44 men, 25 of
whom were killed or mortally wounded, out of 59 in line —
the most remarkable proportion of killed to wounded recorded
in this history — and Company H. lost 36 killed and wounded.
Among the killed were Second Lieutenants Olney A. Corn-
stock of Company B., and Samuel Sumner, Jr. of Company
D.1 Among the wounded were Captains C. TV. Eose, Com-
pany B.; B. E. Jenne, Company G.; C. TV. Seagar, Company
H. and E. C. Benton, Company D.; and Lieutenants Louis
McD. Smith, Company A.; Wilson D. "Wright, Company B.;
W. H. H. Peck, Company E.; and B. M. Barber, Company K.
Captain Jenne was shot in the hand and groin, and taken
prisoner. Lieutenants Smith, Wright and Barber, having
serious buck shot wounds in the legs, also fell into the ene-
my's hands. They were taken first to a blacksmith's shop
near the field, which was filled with Federal wounded, and
1 Lieut. Comstock enlisted from Middlebury. He was an unusually
athletic man, a vigorous wrestler, and a stout and brave soldier. He fell
in the courageous and active discharge of his duty.
Lieut. Sumner had been a school teacher in the South for some time
previous to the war, and on the outbreak of hostilities came home 1o enlist
in the Union army. He enlisted from Troy, Vt., in August, 1861, at the
age of 21, and was chosen second lieutenant at the organization of the
company. One who knew him in the army, says : " He was as brave as a
man could possibly be."
The killed of the rank and file were as follows :
Company B. — E. Dorsey, L. S. Evarts.
Company C.— B. Finnegan, J. Fiske, C. Lozmen, M. Mills.
Company D.— H. A. Davis. J. T. Davis, J. Estus, I. S. Gray, A. P.
Steenburg.
Company E. — O. J. Barton, W. K. Bennett, J. Bolster, N. Burnham,
L. Campeau, H. C. Clayton, S. A. Cummings, E. J. Fisher, G. Fleming,
J. Lassard, D. F. Mattison, C. H. Rideout, T. M. Waite, A. Waters,
W. Whitman, H. E. Wiley.— 16.
Company F.— H. H. Wilder, T. D. Peck
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 189
thence to McClellan's great field hospital, which had been
left by him intact and was taken possession of by the
enemy. When able to travel they were removed to Richmond.
Lieutenant Wright was honorably discharged on account
of disability from his wounds, in August 1862. Lieutenant
Smith was paroled July 21st, and mustered out in December
following. He returned to the service in March 1863, as
captain of Company E.
Lieutenant Peck was struck in the face by a musket
ball which, entering below the cheek bone, glanced down-
ward, passed under his chin, beneath the skin, across his
neck, and up and out at the other side of his face. Though
nearly crazed by the pain, he made out to stagger along with
the column, on the retreat to Harrison's Landing, whence he
was removed to the IT. S. Naval Hospital at Annapolis. He
suffered from the effects of his wound for a year, and was
then transferred to the Invalid Corps.
Lieutenant Barber was dangerously wounded in the hip ;
was taken to Richmond, where he suffered greatly from neg-
Company G— P. H. Bowline, H. Lewis, A. H. Mitchell, J. Q. A.
Rhodes.
Company H.— H. Hooker, J. J. Huit, V. D. Sails.
Company I.— H. C. Allen, J. Bodfish, J. W. Monroe, H. W. Rowe,
8. E. Spauldiug, M. B. Warner.
Company K.— T Kennedy, D. Wells.— Total, 45.
Those who died of their wounds were :
Company B.— L. W. Merrill, M. M. Reynolds.
Company C.— E. Banyea, J. Catury, W. L. Micha.
Company D.— B. Draper, E. H. Marcy.
Company E.— A. A. Barker, W. G. Brown, E. M. Cummings, H. P.
Cummings, W. Cummings, W. H. H. Cummings, F. D. Goldthwaite, H. J.
Heald, J. Meerworth.— 9.
Company G.— T. W. Taylor.
Company H.— J. Maguire, P. Maloney, F. Merchant, M. Mulcahy,
E. H. Smith, E. P. West.
Company K.— W. Church, D. Story, J. P. Ware.— Total, 27.
It was a very common statement, during the war and after, that Co. E.
of the Fifth had 33 men killed and mortally wounded at Savage's Station.
The nominal list, however, does not bear out the statement.
190 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
lect on the part of the Confederate surgeons, was soon
paroled and taken to Fortress Monroe, where he died from
his wound, July 20th, on board the transport Louisiana. He
was a capable officer, though less than 21 years of age, and
was sincerely mourned in the command.
Seventy-five wounded men of the Fifth were left on the
field and, with three sick men left in hospital at Savage's
Station, fell into the hands of the enemy. Surgeon Kussell,
with three nurses of the hospital staff, remained with them,
and rendered them all possible care till they were released
by death or were paroled a few weeks later.
The regiment — what was left of it — remained with the
^brigade at Harrison's Landing after the change of base of the
army, from the 2d of July till the 16th of August. Its number
of effective men was greatly reduced, not only by death and
wounds, but by sickness consequent upon the fatigues and
•exposures of the retreat ; and on the 13th of July the regiment
Jiad only thirteen officers and 371 men fit for duty.1
Major Proctor resigned July llth on account of contin-
ued sickness, and Captain John K. Lewis of Co. I. was ap-
pointed major in his place — a fit recognition of his gallant
and efficient service.
During the last week in August, Ass't Surgeon Shaw,
who had been untiring in his devotion to the sick and
wounded, yielded, like many others, to the malaria of the
Yirginia swamps, and after an illness of two weeks died
September 7th, of typhoid fever in the hospital at Alex-
andria. He was educated at Dartmouth College and ranked
high in his profession ; and his loss was severely felt in the
regiment. His remains were removed to his home in Waits-
field for interment. Dr. Arthur F. Burdick of Underhill was
1 One field officer, 3 regimental staff, 1 Captain, 4 First Lieutenants, 4
Second Lieutenants; 16 musicians; 6 wagoners, 349 non-commissioned
officers and privates. Statement by Sergeant L. Bigelow, in Burlington
Times, July 19, 1862,
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 191
appointed assistant surgeon in his place, and a second assist-
ant surgeon was appointed at the same time, in the person
of Dr. Alwyn H. Chesmore of Huntington.
On the 16th of August the regiment started with the
brigade on the march down the Peninsula, and participated
in the movements of the Army of the Potomac in Virginia
and Maryland during the next month. Some of the march-
ing was severe, and 24 men of the Fifth were taken to Har-
wood Hospital at "Washington, sick from exhaustion, when
the regiment passed through that city on the way to Mary-
land.
On the 10th of September, Colonel Smalley retired from
the colonelcy, his leave of absence from the regular army
being revoked, and Lieut. Colonel Grant, who had com-
manded the regiment through much of its service, succeeded
to the colonelcy. Major Lewis was thereupon promoted to
the lieutenant colonelcy, and Captain Charles P. Dudley of
Company E., was appointed major.
The Fifth participated in the storming of Crampton's
Gap, September 14th, and stood on the field of Antietam,
though without serious loss, having two men wounded by
shells. After the Antietam campaign the regiment went into
camp on the 26th of September, with the brigade, at Hagers-
town, Md., where the troops were allowed a month of much
needed rest, and where the Fifth received 90 recruits.
Surgeon Eussell was honorably discharged in October,
on account of ill health, and in December following, Dr. P.
D. Bradford, a well known physician of Northfield, was ap-
pointed surgeon.
On the llth of October, the Fifth was sent with the
Second Vermont, by rail, to Chambersburg, Pa., to check
Stuart's cavalry raid, returning to Hagerstown on the 16th.
In the first half of November it marched with the brigade
down to the lower Potomac, and on the 1st of December
was stationed near Stafford Court House, Va., on Acquia
192 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Creek, a few miles from the rest of the brigade, to guard the
roads above Acquia.
In the first battle of Fredericksburg, December llth to
14th, the Fifth was under fire to a greater or less extent for
four days. On the 14th it was on the skirmish line, and lost
one man killed l and 13 wounded. Among the injured were
Colonel Grant, who received a sharp blow on the leg from a
spent bullet, and Lieutenant Warren R. Dunton of Company
D., who received a serious wound in the foot, which occa-
sioned his honorable discharge three months after.
On the 1st of January, 1863, the regiment was at Fal-
mouth, Ya., the rest of the brigade being at Belle Plain.
The morning report for that day gave an aggregate of 694,
with 457 present for duty, and 224 on the sick list. This
aggregate was diminished by 100, by discharges and transfers
to the invalid corps during the first three months of the
year.
The resignation, in February, 1863, of Colonel Whiting
of the Second regiment, who had been in command of the
brigade since October previous, left Colonel Grant the rank-
ing colonel and he accordingly succeeded to the command of
the First brigade, which he held thereafter through the war.
He had been a careful and efficient colonel, and the regiment
was sorry to lose him. On his part he was proud of the
regiment, and he never lost his interest in the Fifth. Upon
Grant's promotion, Lieut. Colonel Lewis succeeded to the
command of the regiment, and brought to the position every
quality of a capable and popular commander.
In the Second Fredericksburg, the Fifth took an honor-
able part. At the storming of Marye's Heights on the 3d
of May, it was kept back by General Howe's order to sup-
port a battery, but subsequently advanced to the top of the
Heights without loss. The next day, in the battle on Salem
Heights, back of Fredericksburg, the Fifth was on the ex-
J James O. Gilbert, of Co. I.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 193
treme right of the brigade, and was the first to receive
Early's main attack on Howe's division of the Sixth corps.
The regiment, under Lieut. Colonel Lewis, rendered gallant
and efficient service in the repulse of the enemy during the
afternoon of the 4th, as well as in the sharp fighting at Banks's
Ford, later in the day, which will be found elsewhere de-
scribed more in detail. The loss of the regiment was three
killed, 11 wounded, of whom one died, and nine taken pris-
oners on the skirmish line.1 Among the wounded was Second
Lieutenant Lyman F. Loomis of Company G. Lieut. Colonel
Lewis, and Lieutenant C. H. Forbes, acting assistant adjutant
general on Colonel Grant's staff, are mentioned in his report
as worthy of the highest praise, as is also Lieutenant A.
Austin, acting quartermaster of the brigade.
On the 5th of June, the Fifth was again sent across the
Eappahannock below Fredericksburg. It crossed in pontoon
boats under heavy fire, attacked the enemy's pickets in the
rifle pits on the opposite bank, capturing most of them, and
drove the remainder across the plain to the woods, thus clear-
ing the way, with the support of other regiments of the
brigade, for the crossing of Howe's division, which went
over to feel of the enemy and ascertain if Hill's corps had left
its position south of the Eappahannock. Seven men of the
Fifth were wounded in the affair, and the Fifth sent in 90
prisoners — six officers and 84 men — including an entire com-
pany of the Eighteenth Mississippi which came into the lines
of the Fifth after dark. On the evening of ihe 7th the regi-
ment marched back with the brigade to the north side of
the river, and a week later started with the corps on the hard
northern march which ended at Gettysburg.
The only man of the First brigade killed at Gettysburg
was a man of the Fifth regiment — Luther Hurlburt of Com-
1 W. H. Button, Co. A. ; C. Montgomery, Co. B., and M. Keirigan, Co.
I. , were killed ; and P. King, Co. B. , died of his wounds.
13
194 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
pany D. — reported at the time as having deserted, but sub-
sequently found to have been killed on the 3d of July. The
regiment was not actively engaged on that field.
At Funkstown, Md., on the 10th of July, the regiment,
under Lieut. Colonel Lewis, held the left of the skirmish
line and repulsed repeated attacks of the Confederate lines
with a loss of three men killed 1 and seven wounded.
After the return to Virginia, the regiment was for three
weeks in a pleasant camp near Warrenton, Va., doing picket
duty for the division, till ordered with the brigade to New
York city on the llth of August. It was sent thence, with
the Sixth Yermont, to Kingston, N. Y., where a draft was in
progress. Its service there was pleasant, and the episode of
maintaining the authority of the government at the North,
amounted to an agreeable vacation of three weeks.
The regiment was next under fire on the 7th of No-
vrember, when the Fifth and Sixth corps assaulted and earned
the enemy's entrenchments at Eappahannock Station. The
regiment was deployed on the skirmish line near the river,
and had two or three men wounded by artillery fire ; but was
not actively engaged.
In General Meade's next unsuccessful attempt to force
General Lee's lines south of the Rapidan, in the last week
in November, the Fifth had its share of marching, severe
picket service and suffering from cold and hunger. Active
campaigning being for the most part brought to a close by
the advent of winter, the regiment went into winter quarters
with the brigade near Brandy Station, Va.
The Fifth was the first of the Vermont regiments, and
one of the first if not the first of the New England regiments,
to re-enlist for the war, under the provisions of the order
of the war department which offered a special bounty to
every three years' man re-enlisting for the war and permit-
1 N. S. Cross, Co. A.; J. W. Leonard, F. Murray, Co. E.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 195
ted regiments three-fourths of whose members should so
re-enlist to retain their regimental organizations and to add
the title of " Veteran Volunteers " to their regimental name ;
also granting to every such regiment a furlough of thirty
days. Two hundred and fifty-five officers and men of the
Fifth, having re-enlisted on the 15th of December, left Brandy
Station on the morning of December 27th for Vermont, and
arrived at Burlington on the 30th. Governor Smith, Adj't.
General Washburn and Surgeon General Thayer, with the
Third Vermont Battery, Captain Start, then in camp at Bur-
lington, and a numerous concourse of citizens, met the
veterans on their arrival and escorted them to the city hall,
where Hon.- George F. Edmunds, in behalf of the citizens
of Burlington, and General Washburn, on the part of the
State, bade them welcome back to Vermont. After a brief
response from Lieut. Colonel Lewis, a dinner, provided by
the citizens of Burlington, was served in the town hall, and
in the afternoon and evening of the same day the veterans
dispersed to their homes to spend the new year anniversary
in comfort and happiness by their own firesides.
On the expiration of its furlough the regiment rendez-
voused at Burlington on the 4th of February, 1864, and went
into camp in comfortable quarters on the fair ground north
of the city. On the 6th it was reviewed by Governor Smith,
accompanied by Adj't. General Washburn and Q. M. General
Davis, and received a handsome new stand of colors from
the hands of the governor, who in appropriate remarks ex-
pressed the pride of the State in the record of the regiment,
and the thanks of the people for its services. Lieut. Colonel
Lewis responded briefly, pledging anew the loyalty of the
regiment to the cause of the Union and faithful regard for
the honor of Vermont.
On Monday morning, February 8th, the Fifth Vermont
regiment veteran volunteers, left the snow-covered hills of
Vermont to rejoin their comrades at the front. Their return
196 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and an addition of about 40 new recruits, gave on the 29th
of February an aggregate of 650, of whom 562 were reported
on duty. The regiment remained in camp at Brandy Station
with the Vermont brigade through the remainder of the
winter until it crossed the Eapidan on the 4th of May to
take its part in the terrible campaign of the Wilderness.
The part taken by the regiment in this campaign will
appear more fully in connection with the history of the
brigade. In proportion to its numbers — it was the smallest
regiment in the brigade — no regiment in the brigade accom-
plished more or suffered more. It went into the first day's
fight of the "Wilderness with about 500 muskets, and its losses
in killed, wounded, and missing, most of the latter being
either killed or desperately wounded, during the month fol-
lowing, aggregated 349, being two men killed or wounded out
of every three in the ranks. The losses of officers in the
same period were also fearful, the list of killed and wounded
comprising both of the field officers, seven of the ten com-
pany commanders, four lieutenants and the sergeant major.
Lieut. Colonel John R. Lewis fell early in the first day's
fight, May 5th, with his left arm shattered by a musket ball,
which entered just below the shoulder. In the evening of
the same day he underwent the operation of exsection of the
humerus in the division hospital on the field. The next
day he was taken to Fredericksburg, the journey occupying
three days and three nights, — forty-six hours of terrible suf-
fering being spent by him in the ambulance on the road. At
Fredericksburg he was joined by his devoted wife, under
whose care he steadily progressed towards convalescence.
Four months later, his wound being not yet healed, he
received an honorable discharge, to accept an appointment
as colonel in the Veteran Reserve Corps. Though the rule of
the war department forbade the muster in of a colonel for a
regiment having less than 500 men, the rule was waived by
the Secretary of War in the case of Lieut. Colonel Lewis,
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 197
in consideration of his gallantry, and lie was mustered as
colonel of the Fifth Vermont on the 5th of June, his appoint-
ment by the governor dating from the 6th of May, and he
was subsequently brevetted brigadier general for " gallant
service in the battle of the Wilderness."
The loss of the regiment in the Wilderness, May 6th,
was 34 killed ; 179 wounded, of whom 23 died of their wounds,
and 31 missing.1
Among the killed were Captain George D. Davenport
of Company B., Captain Charles J. Ormsbee of Company D.,
and Lieutenant Watson O. Beach of Company F. Captain
Alonzo R. Hurlbut of Company A. was wounded in the left
ankle, suffered amputation of the leg, and died the 9th of
June in Armory Square Hospital, Washington; and Lieu-
tenant Orvis H. Sweet of Company A., was shot through
the lungs and died May 17th.
Among the wounded were: Captain F. H. Barney of
1 The rank and file killed in the Wilderness were as follows :
Company A. — J. Fenix, L. Gilder, L. Gommon, J. Hamel, J. E. Puffer,
E. Reynolds, J. M. Thomas, D. Traxian, N. Troyon.— 9
Company B.— F. Daniels, S. J. Hawley, P. Lander, J. St. Marie.
Company C. — A. Mason.
Company D.—J. Brown, E. E. Houston, J. LaFleur, Jr., E. LeBru,
S. S. Marshall, G. H. Porter.— 6.
Company E.— J. O. Benson, D. F. Kidder, G. H. Lyon, H. Smith,
C. H. Walker.
Company F.— J. Gillespie, C. Grimes, R. Hudson, T. J. Lane.
Company I.— G. Collins, W. H. Isham.— Total, 31.
Those who died of wounds were :
Company A. — A. M. Alexander, R. Robinson.
Company B.— R. L. Barnes, H. Bowers, R. L. Downer, A. Sorrell,
H. Sayles.
Company C. — M. Raymond. Jr,
Company E.— H. G. Taft.
Company G. — H. Moren.
Company H. — E. Keenan.
Company L— G. P. Bixby, R. Cornish, W. W. Douglass, J. R. Martin,
J. F. Preston.
Company K.— B. Haskins, B. B. Hatch, E. W. Hill, J. Lyons, A. Plant.
—Total, 21.
198 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Company C.; Captain William B. Robinson of Company H.,,
who was honorably discharged the August following for his
wounds; Lieutenant Miner E. Fish of Company D.; Lieu-
tenant W. G. Davenport of Company H.; and Lieutenant
L. G. Brownson of Company K.
Honorable mention is made in General L. A. Grant's
report of Sergeant Isaac M. Burton, Company E., for seizing
and safely carrying the colors of the regiment, after they had
been shot from the hands of the color bearer.
In the battles at Spottsylvania, May 10th to 21st, the
Fifth lost 15 killed ; 50 wounded, of whom 12 died of their
wounds ; and 20 missing — a total of 85. 1
A portion of these casualties occurred in Upton's mag-
nificent charge on the enemy's salient, on the 10th of May ;.
and most serious among them was the fatal wounding of the
only remaining field officer of the regiment, the gallant
Major Dudley, who had succeeded to the command of the
Fifth upon the fall of Lieut. Colonel Lewis. Though he was.
ill with a fever when the regiment was ordered forward as
one of the twelve picked regiments selected for Upton's
assault, he promptly placed himself at its head, and while
1 The killed at Spottsylvania were :
Company C.— M. M. Lafayette, L. Martin.
Company D.— A. Schoolcraft.
Company E. — F. De Hosiers, L. Morse.
Company F.— R. W. Champlin, C. M. Crane, J. Duquette, C. P. Good-
rich, J. Hale, C. A. Walker, R. Wright.
Company I. — B. F. Isham.
Company K.— E. Chamberlin, R. M. Rogers.— Total, 15.
Those who died of their wounds were :
Company A.— H. C. Bailey, H. H. Clement.
Company B.— E. W. Sager.
Company C. — J. H. Sturtevant.
Company D.— H. D. Hagar, J. Houston, Jr.
Company E.— N. C. Bostwick.
Company F. — S. Jenney.
Company G. — R. J. Fletcher, J. Hunter.
Company K.— A. J. Lessor.— Total, 11.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 1S9
cheering on his men, received a musket ball through his
uplifted right arm. No bone was broken, and the wound was
no more severe than thousands from which men speedily
recovered. But with his nervous temperament and with
vital powers depressed by disease, it proved a mortal injury.
He never rallied from the shock, and died in the arms of his
young wife, who arrived at Fredericksburg, whither he was
carried, but a few hours before his death. He was one of
the bravest of Yermont's brave ; had notably distinguished
himself on several occasions and especially at Banks's Fordr
and at the crossing of the Eappahannock, June 5th, 1863 ;
and few deaths in the whole course of the war occasioned
deeper sorrow among the Yermont troops.1
After Major Dudley fell, the regiment was commanded
by Captain E. A. Hamilton of Company F., who had dis-
tinguished himself at Spottsylvania, and received mention
for good conduct in the brigade commander's report. Quar-
termaster Eells is also mentioned as one of those who ren-
dered special service on the staff of the general, after the
brigade staff officers had been wounded or captured.
The Fifth regiment was in the front line at Cold Harbor
on the 3d of June, and suffered severely, losing eight killed
1 Charles P. Dudley was born in Manchester, Vt., January 24, 1836. He
spent his early manhood in his trade as a marble cutter, and in teaching in
Vermont and in Kentucky, where his outspoken expression of his opinions
on the great issues which divided the sections before the war, placed his
life repeatedly in danger. He was studying law in the office of an uncle,
in Johnstown, N. Y. , when the war broke out. The fir»t train leaving that
town after President's Lincoln's first call for troops took him to Vermont,
to join his brother Vermonters in sustaining the flag. He at once enlisted
at Rutland, in Co. K. of the First regiment. A commission in the regular
army was tendered to him about this time ; but he declined it, preferring to
serve with the troops of his native State, though as a private in the ranks.
On the expiration of the three months term of the First regiment he re-
enlisted in the Manchester company of the Fifth, of which he was elected
captain. He was promoted to be major, October 6th, 1862, and was ap-
pointed lieutenant colonel, May 6th, 1864 ; but his commission had not
reached him at the time of his death.
200 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
and 22 wounded, three of whom died of their wounds.1
Among the killed was Captain Merrill T. Samson of Com-
pany I, a meritorious young officer.
From the 4th to the 10th of June, the regiment was
frequently under fire, and lost three men wounded. On the
13th, the Fifth moved with the brigade to the James, and
crossed it on the 16th.
At Petersburg in the operations of June 17th, the Fifth
was deployed on the skirmish line. The next day, with the
rest of the brigade, it was placed in the front line under a
heavy artillery fire, by which, however, it lost but one man.2
The morning report of the regiment, June 30th, gave an
aggregate of 587, with only 280 on duty, 303 being on the
list of sick and wounded. The regiment moved to the north
with the Sixth corps in July ; and in the engagement at Fort
Stevens, in front of "Washington, July 12th, one man of the
Fifth, who had been detailed as a sharp shooter, was wounded.
At Charlestown, Va., August 21st, the regiment was
again engaged, and lost two men killed and four wounded,
one of whom died of his wounds.3
On the 15th of September, 1864, the original members of
the regiment who had not re-enlisted and whose time had ex-
pired, 107 in number, were mustered out of the service and
returned to Vermont. This number included Adjutant C H.
Forbes, who had been on General Grant's staff as A. A. G.
of the brigade for over a year and a half; Surgeon A. H.
Chesmore, Chaplain Hale, Captains F. H. Barney, L. McD.
1 The men killed at Cold Harbor, were : M. H. Keefe, Co. A.; J. C.
Hunt and J. H. Varney, Co. C.; L. B. Graham and C. E. Stearns, Co. F.;
M. Courtney, Co. H.; and P. Tomlinson, Co. K.
Those who died of wounds were : M. W. Lamed, H. Safford of Com-
pany A.; and L. Crady of Company B.
* G. H. St. Louis, Co. K.
3 J. Lewis, Co. I, and W. Jackman, Co. K. were killed. P. Ladam, Co.
A. died of his wounds.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 201
Smith, E. A. Hamilton, B. K. Jenne, L. D. Tice and C. H.
Williamson ; and Lieutenants C. H. Benton, E. P. Russell,
O. L. Spencer, W. G. Davenport, E. S. Leach, L. F. Loomis,
W. H. Cheney, and J. A. Bixby. There were left no field
officers ; of the staff only Quartermaster Eells and Asst. Sur-
geon Colburn, and of line officers only five lieutenants. It
amounted in effect to the breaking up of the regiment ; and
though its name remained, and it did a good deal more of
good fighting, it existed thenceforward as a battalion, entitled
at most to a lieutenant colonel. In the lack of officers of its
own, the battalion was commanded for a time by Captain
Addison Brown of the Fourth. Captain Brown was soon
after appointed lieutenant colonel of the Fifth, his commis-
sion dating September 18th. The vacancies in the line were
partially filled by promotions and transfers from other regi-
ments ; and early in October Lieutenant Eugene O. Cole of
Bennington, who had served three years in the Second and
had been mustered out, was appointed major. The total
losses during the year previous to October 1st, 1864, other
than by expiration of term of service, were 264 ; of which
number 89 had died, 30 deserted, 21 had been discharged,
and 22 transferred to the Veteran Eeserve Corps. The
morning report for October 31st, showed 288 officers and
men present for duty out of an aggregate of 516. The
Fifth served with the brigade in Sheridan's Shenandoah
campaign, and at Winchester, September 19th, lost six
killed1 and 22 wounded. In the battle of Cedar Creek,
October 19th, the Fifth, under command of Major Enoch
Johnson of the Second Yermont, Lieut. Colonel Brown being
disabled by illness, took an active part, and lost two killed,
17 wounded, one of whom died, and three missing.' Captain
1 L. Bovatt, W. P. Valentine, Co. C.; J. Belair, Co. E.; J. J. Davis, C.
Lucas, J. Naylor, Co. G. were killed at Winchester.
2 J. M. Farnam, Co. E. and G. E. Davis, Co. I. were killed. M. Smith,
Co. H., was wounded and died November llth.
202 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Thomas Kavaney of Company A. was among the severely
wounded. Lieutenant George H. Sessions, A. D. C. to the
brigade commander, is mentioned in his report for " truly
conspicuous and gallant conduct."
The regiment went into winter quarters with the brigade
on the 13th of December, in the lines on the south of Peters-
burg. In January and February 50 recruits swelled the
aggregate to 574, with 403 present for duty and 148 sick on
the 16th of February. The sick list diminished steadily
during the winter, in spite of the severe picket and fatigue
duty to which the men were subjected. Lieut. Colonel Brown
resigned in December on account of continued ill health.1
In February, Captain Eonald A. Kennedy of the Third
Vermont was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Fifth, and
commanded the regiment during the remainder of its ser-
vice. In the charge on the picket line of the enemy in
front of Fort Fisher, March 25th, the regiment entered the
works with the brigade and took a number of prisoners.
During the final attempt of the enemy to retake the line,
about sunset, 150 men of the Fifth, under Major Cole, were
sent to the left to support a battery and dislodge a body of
the enemy in and about a house from which their sharp-
shooters enfiladed and annoyed the line of the Sixth corps.
This was successfully accomplished. The Fifth lost one
man killed and seven wounded, two of whom died of their
wounds.2 In repulsing an attack of the enemy on the picket
line, March 27th, seven men of the Fifth were wounded and
four reported missing. In the final attack, when the Sixth
corps broke through the enemy's lines in front of Petersburg,
'After leaving the service, Colonel Brown went to Illinois to visit
friends, and died a few weeks after at Harrisburg, Pa., while on his way to
his home in Vermont, at the age of 28 years. Though young in years, he
was old in experience, and had proved himself a brave and trusty soldier.
2S. Bernheim, Co. B., was killed. W. Oliver, Co. C., and J. Bailey,
Co. G., died of wounds.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 203
on the 2d of April, the Fifth, under command of Lieut.
Colonel Kennedy, had the honor of leading the storming
column, and its colors were the first planted by the Sixth corps
on the enemy's works. It is believed that Captain Charles
G. Gould of Company H., was the first man of the Sixth
corps to mount the hostile works. Among the many feats of
bravery performed by men of the Fifth that day, may be
mentioned that of Sergeant Lester G. Hack of Company F.,
who seized a Confederate battle flag, knocked down the
color bearer, though surrounded by a squad of his comrades,
and secured the flag, which is now among the war trophies
preserved at the war department at Washington.
The casualties in the regiment on that glorious day
were five killed, 34 wounded, two of whom died of their
wounds, and seven missing;1 total, 47 — a larger number than
in any other regiment of the brigade except the Eleventh, which
was twice as large as the Fifth. The seven men reported
missing were taken prisoners, but were all recaptured.
Among the killed was Second Lieutenant J. Smith of Com-
pany A., and among the wounded were Captain Charles G.
Gould, who received a severe bayonet wound in the face
and was struck by clubbed muskets as he sprang over the
rebel intrenchments, and Captain Edson M. Kaymond of
Company D. Captain Gould was afterwards brevetted major
for gallant service on that occasion, and Captain Raymond
was honorably discharged, on the 2d of June following, on
account of his wounds.
This was the last severe fighting done by the battalion.
After the surrender of Lee, it marched with the brigade to
the vicinity of Washington to await the final muster out.
The recruits, 86 in number, whose term of service would
expire previous to October 1st, were mustered out of the
1 The killed of the rank and file were : H. C. Pike, Co. C.; J. Baker,
L. Young, Co. F.; E. Brownlee, C. A. Ford, Co. H. J. Jabott, Co. C., and
G. J. Howard, Co, G., died of their wounds.
204 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
service June 19th, and returned to Vermont as part of a de-
tachment of 661 men of the Vermont brigade, all of whom
were mustered out at that time. The only officer of the
Fifth returning with them was Captain Gould. The re-
mainder of the regiment, 333 in number,1 of whom 124 were
veterans, were mustered out on the 29th of June, and started
at once for Vermont under command of Colonel Kennedy.
They arrived in Burlington at five o'clock in the morning of
July 4th. Owing to some accident the citizens had not been
notified of their coming and were not awaiting them at the
station. Notice of their arrival was however soon given, and
the welcome accorded them was none the less cordial for
being a little tardy. They marched to the city hall, where
they were welcomed home by Rev. Elbridge Mix. A boun-
tiful breakfast was served in the hall by the ladies, after
which the veterans marched to their quarters at the U. S
Marine Hospital, where they were paid off, and dispersed to
their homes to learn war no more.
The officers of the regiment at the time of its return
were as follows : Lieut. Colonel Ronald A. Kennedy, who
went out in September, 1861, as a private in the Third re-
giment, was wounded at Fredericksburg in May, 1863, was
appointed captain in January following and transferred to
the Fifth as Lieut. Colonel in February, 1865 ; was appointed
colonel by the governor in June, 1865, but was mustered out,
in accordance with the rule of War Department, as lieutenant
colonel. Major Eugene A. Cole, who went out as a pri-
vate in the Second regiment, and served three years, was
mustered out with the rank of first lieutenant, returned to
the service as major of the Fifth, December 26, 1864, and
was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallantry in the last as-
sault at Petersburg. He was commissioned as lieutenant
1 This number does not include quite all who were members of the
regiment at that time. A few were absent on furlough or sick in hos-
pitals, and 18 men remained on special duty a week longer.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 205
colonel by the governor; but was mustered out as major.
Surgeon C. H. Allen, who went out as assistant surgeon of
the Eighth in October, 1862, and was transferred to the Fifth
in October, 1864. Asst. Surgeon Dan L. C. Colburn, who
had been with the regiment since August, 1863. Quarter-
master Isaac L. Eells, who went out as a private in 1861, re-
ceived a second lieutenant's commission in April, 1864, and
was appointed quartermaster in May. Adjutant Charles F.
Leonard, who was appointed in October, 1864 ; and Chaplain
John D. Cargill, who enlisted as private, was made sergeant
in June, 1863, was wounded at Fredericksburg, June 5th,
1863, re-enlisted in December of that year, and received his
appointment as chaplain in September, 1864.
Captain Thomas Kavaney of Company A. was promoted
major by the governor, June 9, 1865, but was mustered out
as captain. The line officers mustered out as such, June 29,
1865, were fourteen in number, as follows : Captains Thomas
Kavaney, Hiram Cook, "William H. Wright, George H. Ses-
sions, Daniel E. Barrett, Samuel F. Kilborn and Myron S.
Dudley, and First Lieutenants Frederick C. Davis, Charles
Y. Cool, Wallace E. Baldwin, Edward C. Warner, Joseph M.
Foster, James Grace and Jackson Sargent. All of these
enlisted as privates.
It is a noticeable circumstance that the Fifth during the
larger part of its service, was commanded by officers below
the rank of colonel. Its first colonel was absent from his
command during the larger part of the year he was con-
nected with it ; its second colonel had held the rank but
five months when he was taken to command the brigade, and
thenceforward the regiment was commanded by lieutenant
colonels, majors and captains.
206 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The following men of the Fifth are known to have died
in Anderson ville prison :
DIED IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
Company A-— H. Laraway, died August 3, 1864.
Company B— H. Crow, died August 6, 1864.
Company C— O. Seward, died August 2, 1864.
Company D— D. Crocker, died July 22, 1864.
Company F— A. B. Wilson, died February 21, 1865.
Company G — C. S. Monroe, *
The battles in which the Fifth took an honorable part,
were as follows :
BATTLES OF THE FIFTH VERMONT.
Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862
Williamsburg, May 5, 1862
Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862
Savage's Station, - -'- - - - - - June 29, 1862
White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862
Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862
Fredericksburg Dec. 13, 1862
Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863
Salem Heights, May 4, 1863
Fredericksburg, ........ June 5, 1863
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863
Funkstown, July 10, 1863
Rappahannock Station, Nov. 7, 1863
Wilderness, May 5 to 10, 1864
Spottsylvania, May 10 to 38, 1864
Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864
Petersburg, June 18, 1864
Charlestown, Aug. 21, 1864
Opequan, Sept. 13, 1864
Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864
Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864
Cedar Creek, • . Oct. 19, 1864
Petersburg, March 25 and 27, 1865
Petersburg, April 2, 1865
"•Captured May 10, 1863, supposed dead. '
THE FIFTH REGIMENT. 207
The final statement of the Eegiment, given below, shows
a larger percentage of killed and mortally wounded in action
than that of any other Vermont regiment :
FINAL STATEMENT.
Original members— com. officers 38, enlisted men 948, total 986
Gain; recruits 588; transferred from other regiments 43, total 631
Aggregate 1,617
LOSSES.
Killed in action — com. officers 5, enlisted men 128, total...'. 133
Died of wounds— com. officers 4, enlisted men 68, total 72
Died of disease- com. officers 1, enlisted men 113, total 114
Died, (unwounded,) in Confederate prisons 11
Died from accidents; enlisted men 4; executed 1 5
Total of deaths 335
Honorably discharged — com. officers, resigned 24, for wounds and dis-
abilities 12; enlisted men discharged for wounds, 99, for disabilities,
298, total, 434
Dishonorably discharged — com. officers 4, enlisted men 9, total 13
Total by discharge 447
Promoted to U. S. Army and to other regiments, officers 8, men 2, total. ..10
Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, U. S. Navy and Army, etc.,
officers 2, enlisted men 90, total 92
Deserted 109, unaccounted for 6, total 115
Mustered out — com officers 53, enlisted men 565, total .618
Aggregate 1,617
Total wounded 473
Total re-enlisted... 256
CHAPTER X.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT.
Its Organization — Departure for Washington — Sickness and Mortality at
Camp Griffin— The Spring of 1862— The Sixth at Lee's Mill— Golding's
Farm and Savage's Station — Sickness at Harrison's Landing— Cramp-
ton's Gap and Antietam— Changes of Field Officers— Winter of 1862-3
Fighting at Fredericksburg — Funkstown — Service in New York-
Winter at Brandy Station — Losses in the Wilderness — Death and
Sketch of Colonel Barney — Personal Incidents — The Shenandoah Cam-
paign— Expiration of Three Years' Term— Service in front of Peters,
burg— End of the War and Return Home.
On the day on which the Fifth regiment was mustered
into the service, Governor Fairbanks received a communica-
tion from the war department, urging him to raise another
regiment of three years' troops as soon as possible. He
accordingly, at once, September 16th, 1861, appointed the
following recruiting officers for the Sixth regiment : Wm.
H. Harris, Danville; C. H. Davis, Wheelock; W. E. Lewis,
Norwich ; W. Hazelton, Essex ; W. B. Keynolds, Burlington ;
George Parker, Jr., Yergennes; William Skinner, Eoyalton;
D. B. Davenport, Eoxbury; A. J. Mower, Calais; D. K.
Andros, Bradford; A. J. Dyke, Woodstock; L. M. Grout,
Elmore ; John S. Campbell, Waitsfield. In twelve days 900
men had been enlisted. They were ordered to rendezvous at
Montpelier ; and on the second day of October the Eoxbury
company arrived and went into camp at the county fair
ground, to which the title of "Camp Smith" was given in
honor of Hon. John Gregory Smith of St. Alhans. During
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 209
the four days following the rest of the men arrived, for the
most part in squads, which were organized into companies
after their arrival in camp, not without some friction in
settling the conflicting preferences of the men for company
officers. The field officers had been already selected. The
colonelcy was offered to and accepted by Lieut. Colonel
Nathan Lord, Jr., of the Fifth. Colonel Lord was a native
of New Hampshire, and was the youngest son of President
Nathan Lord of Dartmouth College. He was a graduate of
Dartmouth, and had been for a short time principal of the
Montpelier academy. He was now thirty years old, of fine
figure and good presence, and had had some military experi-
ence, having been a captain in a three months regiment, the
Seventh Indiana, and having seen some service under
McClellan in Western Virginia. He was recommended by
his Indiana colonel as being " as kind and merciful as he was
brave and heroic."
Adjutant Asa P. Blunt of the Third Vermont, who had
had four months service in that regiment and shown himself
a bright and competent officer, was appointed lieutenant
colonel. Captain Oscar S. Tuttle of Cavendish, who had been
Captain of Company. E. of the First regiment, and served
with credit during its short term of service, was appointed
major. The regimental staff were as follows : Adjutant E. B.
Crandall, of Berlin; Quartermaster John W. Clark, of Mont-
pelier; Surgeon K. C. M. Woodward, M. D., of St. Albans;
Ass't. Surgeon Charles M. Chandler, M. D., of Montpelier;
Chaplain, Eev. Edward P. Stone of Berlin. The latter was
a Congregational minister just ordained. Surgeon Woo -
ward was obliged by the condition of his health to resign a
few days after his appointment, and was succeeded by Ass't
Surgeon Chandler ; and Dr. Lyman Tuttle of Vernon, was
appointed assistant surgeon.
The State and Government officials had learned by this
time a good deal in the business of equipping troops, and
14
210 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
from the ampler supplies of army clothing now available the
men were uniformed as fast as they arrived. On the 15th
of October the arms, Enfield rifles, procured in New York,
were distributed, and on the same day the regiment was
mustered into the service of the United States by Lieutenant
J. W. Jones, U. S. A., mustering officer. On Saturday
morning, October 19th, thirty-three days from the receipt of
the request of the war department for another Vermont
regiment, the Sixth Vermont, 971 strong, took its departure
for the field. It was a rainy morning ; but the wrhole popu-
lation of Montpelier, and hundreds of fathers, mothers, wives
and friends from the neighboring towns, turned out to see
the boys off and bid them Godspeed. Not a man was left
behind. The usual patriotic demonstrations greeted the
regiment all along the route through Vermont and down the
Connecticut Valley. At Springfield, Mass., refreshments
were provided for the men by the mayor and citizens. Early
Sunday morning the Sixth reached New Haven, where the
steamer Elm City was waiting to take the regiment to Jersey
City. There it took train, and at eleven in the evening arrived
at Philadelphia, where it was received with the proverbial
Philadelphia hospitality, and spent the night in a Baptist
chapel. Taking train next morning the regiment had at
Baltimore a lunch of bread and cheese, supplied by loyal
citizens, and arrived at Washington at nine P. M. The night
was spent at the "Soldiers' Kest," and next day the regiment
moved to the general camping ground on Capitol Hill. On
October 24th, the Sixth took its first march worthy of the
name, to Camp Griffin, doing the twelve miles in three hours
and a half. It arrived just after dark, and was received
with cheers by the other regiments of the Vermont brigade
as it marched past their camps to its camping ground.
The regiment was now occupied in drill and picket duty,
which was the chief business of the brigade, and did its share
of both in spite of the alarming amount of sickness which soon
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 211
prevailed in the ranks. Before the end of November ,nearly a
third of the men were unfit for duty, and they were falling sick
at the rate of forty a day. At one time Company B. had but
22 men fit for duty out of 85. Surgeon Chandler was one of
those prostrated by fevers ; and in the first two months in
Virginia 27 men died from disease. The frequent deaths
and prevailing sickness caused a general seriousness and
much religious reflection among the men, and the prayer-
meetings, held every evening, were numerously attended.
Every care possible was taken of the sick. The more dan-
gerously ill were removed to the brigade hospital near
Chain Bridge. The regimental hospital tent was replaced
by a substantial log house ; and during January the general
health of the regiment began to improve. When the brigade
moved with the army toward Manassas, March 10th, the
sick list had been reduced to about 100. Up to that date,
the deaths numbered 47, among the saddest of which was
that of Lieutenant George H. Phelps, of Company D., a
favorite young officer, who died of typhoid fever, January 2d,
1862.
The regiment participated in the movements of the
brigade in the spring of 1862, and was first under fire April
6th, in front of the Confederate entrenchments on "Warwick
Creek. On that day it supported one of the batteries sta-
tioned in the edge of the woods during the first demonstra-
tion made by General Smith's division, and though covered
from the sight of the enemy by a curtain of growing timber,
was subjected to a random shelling from the Confederate
batteries, both by day and night, without loss. After two days
and nights spent under arms, the Sixth was relieved, marched
three miles to the right, and encamped, cold, wet and hun-
gry, in the woods, not far from Lee's Mill, where it remained
for nine days, and until the exciting day of April 16th.
During the larger part of that day, and while the men of the
Third Vermont were making, their desperate assault on the
212 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
enemy's rifle pits at Lee's Mill, the Sixth was held in reserve
in the woods southeast of "the chimneys" of the burned
Garrow house. About five o'clock in the afternoon the
second attack was ordered, — the plan being that four com-
panies of the Fourth should cross by the dam, and an equal
number of the Sixth below the dam, and that the two bat-
talions should attack the enemy's works in concert. The
Sixth accordingly advanced, partly covered by the woods,
nearly to the edge of the stream. The right wing, consisting
of Company A., Captain Parker; Company F., Captain E. F.
Eeynolds; Company D., Captain Hale; Company I., Lien-
tenant Kinney, (Captain W. B. Reynolds being ill), and Com-
pany C., Captain Spaulding, was then ordered to cross the
creek.1 The order was promptly obeyed. The spot selected
for the crossing was eight or ten rods below the dam. The
companies marched by the flank to the river. This had been
widened and deepened by another dam below, and the water
before them was about twenty rods wide, extending nearly up
to the enemy's rifle pits. As the battalion entered the water
the enemy opened a severe musketry fire. Without return-
ing a shot the men pushed on, forded the channel of the
creek, the water coming up waist high ; and as they came into
the shallower water beyond, fronted into line and charged
the works before them. A portion had hardly reached the
rifle pits when the order to retire was given. The men fell
back, carrying with them their wounded, some of whom re-
ceived additional and fatal wounds in the arms of their
comrades. The scene is thus described by Corporal A. W.
Davis: "We started to the rear to find the water almost up
"to where we stood, and over all the interval between us and
"the opposite shore. In the turbid current was a mass of
" men, struggling to the rear. Such a sight never again met
1 General Brooks says Colonel Lord was ordered to throw four com.
panics across the creek ; but Jive were thrown across, and two more at-
tempted the crossing.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 213
" my gaze during the war. Wounded men, on reaching the
"old bed of the stream sank with cries of despair, to be
"found later in the swamps down the stream, where their
" bodies had lodged. I saw two men ahead of me carrying a
"wounded man, when they were struck by rebel bullets and
"one or both sank. I saw two others assisting a wounded
" man, when a bullet passed through the latter's head and he
"pitched forward and was gone. The muddy water liter-
" ally boiled with bullets." Some of the instances of indivi-
dual heroism, of which there were so many in this memora-
ble engagement, will be found narrated in the fuller account
given in subsequent pages in connection with the history
of the Vermont brigade.
The loss of the regiment at Lee's Mill was 13 killed and
67 wounded, of whom 10 died of their wounds.1
Among the killed was Captain E. F. Keynolds of Com-
pany F., who received a serious wound in the hip, in spite of
which he pressed on at the head of his company, when a
bullet pierced his breast, killing him instantly.2
Among the wounded were Captain David B. Davenport
of Company H., who received a flesh wound in the thigh
from a musket ball; First Lieutenant Edwin E. Kinney,
Company I., seriously wounded in the leg ; and Second
1 The men killed were: W. M. Gibson, A. C. Noyes, Co. C.; C. E.
Colburn, Co. D.; M. Barney, Co. E.; C. Axtell, R. Blakely, P.Connell, W.
W. Godfrey, Co. F.; M. Basconer, T. Daniels, E. R. Dodge, L. W. Wales,
Co. H.
Those who died of their wounds were : J. Oakes, E. C. Wright, Co.
A.; L. Graves, A. Grant, J. E. Wilson, J. E. Wyman, Co. C.; L. Talbot,
Co. D.; J. Connery, Co. F.; R. L. Bellows, Co. I.
5 Captain Reynolds was a member of the Rutland company of the First
regiment. He re-enlisted in the Sixth, and was chosen captain of his com-
pany at its organization. He was a brave and patriotic soldier, and his
loss was deeply felt in the regiment. His body was sent to Vermont,
and was interred, at Rutland, April 23, 1862, with military and masonic
honors.
214 VEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Lieutenant Charles F. Bailey, Company D., who received a
wound in the leg, from which he died a fortnight after.1
The official reports mention as deserving of especial
credit for good conduct in the engagement, Colonel Lord, Sur-
geons Chandler and Tuttle, Captains E. F. Reynolds and
Davenport, Lieutenants Bailey and Kinney, Sergeant Holton
of Company I., who was also mentioned with special credit
in a general order, for securing and bringing back the colors,
Sergeant Porter Crane of Company H., Sergeant W. B. Dun-
shee, Company A., and Corporals A. L. Cox and P. H. Duggan.
On the 29th of April, the regiment was sent out to the
left to make a reconnoissance along the bank of Warwick
Creek. Company G., Lieutenant Nevins, and Company K.,
Captain Barney, were thrown out in front as skirmishers, and
advanced till they came under tire from the enemy's pickets
by which a man in Company K. was wounded. Lieutenant
Nevins advanced to examine the enemy's position, and while
so doing received a ball in the knee, which shattered the
joint. He was taken to the brigade hospital, where amputa-
tion was performed by Surgeon Chandler, and on the 3d of
May he died."
The Sixth marched up the Peninsula to the front of
Richmond with the brigade ; and on the 27th of June, acted
as support to the picket line of General Smith's division at
Golding's Farm in repulsing an attack of the enemy after
sundown ; and took the place of the Forty Third New York,
1 Lieutenant Bailey went from Troy, Vt., as orderly sergeant of Com-
pany D., and at the death of Lieutenant Phelps in January, 1862, and
promotion of 2d Lieutenant Dwinell, was promoted to the vacancy. He
was a man of strong will, and thorough integrity and courage.
2 Lieutenant Nevins was a substantial and leading citizen of Moretown.
He stood high as a soldier, and his death occasioned especial demonstra-
tions of respect and sorrow, on the part of his comrades. His body was
sent home to Vermont, and was interred, at Moretown, June 9th, with
civic and military honors.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT.
in front, for a while. Six men of the Sixth were wounded,,
in this affair, and one reported missing.2
In the battle at Savage's Station, on the 29th, the Sixth
was deployed on the left in the advance of the brigade, and
lost 15 killed; 51 wounded, of whom six died of their wounds,.
and three missing.2 The casualties were distributed with
much impartiality among the companies. Among those
reported missing was Captain William B. Reynolds of Com-
pany I., who was ill with typhoid fever in the hospital at
Savage's Station and fell into the enemy's hands, as did nine
other sick men of the Sixth, who were left there, with 3,000
other sick and wounded, when the army retreated. He was
taken thence to Richmond, and three weeks later was paroled
and sent north.
Lieutenant George E. Wood of Company B., Sergeant
major Boyden, and 28 other wounded men, were left on the
field and were captured, together with seven men who were
detailed to stay with them as nurses. Most of these were
paroled and discharged as soon as they were able to travel.
Among the wounded men so captured was Corporal
Alexander W. Davis, of Company D. While confined in
Libby Prison, a few days later, he learned through one of
the guards, a private of the 7th Louisiana, that his cousin
Dr. James B. Davis, (a son of Hon. Bliss N. Davis, of Dan-
ville, Vt.,) who was residing in Louisiana when the war broke
1 Colonel Lord in his report of this skirmish, written two weeks after,
alludes to it as occurring on the 29th of June. The date was that given
above.
2 The rank and file killed weret D. Moulton, O. S. Pinney, Co. B.;
W. E. Caffrin, J. M. Green, Co. C.; J. Farnam, Co. D.; T. L. Bailey, G. F.
Hazelton, Co. E.; E. D. Buzzell, Co. G.; J. M. Putnam, Co. H.; G. Mar.
tin, E. McGlaughlin, G. Stark, Jr.. Co. L; R. Columb, R. Magoon, M.
Mason, Co. K.
Those dying of their wounds were : J. Clark, J. Scarborough, Co. A.;
L. O'Connell, Co. D.; O. G. Kelsey, J. R. Murray, Co. G.; W. Cheney,
Co. K.
216 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
out, was the surgeon of the Seventh Louisiana regiment, then
stationed near Eichmond. He wrote to Dr. Davis, and as a
result of the latter's kind offices, was not only soon exchanged
but furnished with a horse to ride from Eichmond to Aiken's
Landing, where the prisoners were transferred to transports —
being the only man in a cartel of 1800 exchanged prisoners
who was so favored.1
A period of unusual sickness prevailed in the regiment
during the six weeks stay at Harrison's Landing — due to the
excessive fatigue of the campaign, the loss of their shelter
tents, most of which had been left behind by the men, and
consequent exposure to the hot sun and heavy mid -summer
showers, and to severe fatigue duty in felling timber and
building earthworks for the protection of the army in its new
position on the James. At battalion drill on the last day of
July less than 200 men appeared in line ; and the effective
force of the regiment did not exceed 250 bayonets. The
health of the regiment, however, improved steadily after
leaving the Peninsula ; and during the succeeding campaign
in Maryland, it was generally in an excellent condition.
In the storming of Crampton's Gap, on the 14th of
September, the Sixth had one officer, Captain E. L. Barney,
and two men wounded. At Antietam, three days later, the
Sixth was for a short time under a sharp artillery fire and
had 8 men wounded.
During the last half of September 77 recruits joined the
regiment and on the 1st of October it had an aggregate of
838 officers and men. Discharges for disability were fre-
quent, and reduced the aggregate during the next two months
to 779. On the 8th of December, the regiment being then in
1 After the battle of Antietam, Dr. Davis was left in charge of the con-
federate wounded within the Union lines, and there met Colonel Geo. P.
Foster of the Fourth Vermont, and others of his former school mates.
General Truman Seymour gave Dr. Davis a guard at that time and showed
him kindnesses, which Dr. Davis was subsequently able to reciprocate,
when General Seymour was a prisoner, after the battle of the Wilderness.
THE SIXTH KEGIMENT. 217
Camp at Belle Plain, on the lower Potomac, the weather cold
and tents and blankets not too plenty, the sick list numbered
218, and but 483 officers and men were reported present for
duty.
In the first battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13th, the
Sixth was not actively engaged and suffered little, having but
one man killed1 and one wounded by artillery fire.
The closing months of 1862, saw almost an entire change
of field officers. In the latter part of September, Lieut.
Colonel Blunt was promoted to the colonelcy of the Twelfth
regiment. Major Tuttle succeeded him in the due order of
promotion, and Captain E. L. Barney of Company K., was
appointed major. On the 18th of December, Colonel Lord
resigned on account of prolonged ill health, and Lieut. Colo-
nel Tuttle was appointed to the vacancy. Colonel Tuttle
was an experienced and capable soldier. Originally trained
under Colonel Phelps in the First regiment, in which he
commanded the Cavendish company, he had been steadily
with the Sixth in all its vicissitudes, had been much in com-
mand of it during the absences of Colonel Lord, and had
the entire confidence of officers and men. Major Barney was
thereupon advanced to the lieutenant colonelcy, and Captain
Oscar A. Hale of Company D. was appointed major.
Four months of comparative quiet folio wed the First Fre-
dericksburg, during which the regiment was in winter quar-
ters, with the brigade, near White Oak Church, a few miles
east of Fredericksburg. Among the episodes of this period,
were a share in Burnside's abortive campaign in Janu-
ary, in which the chief duty of the regiment was marching
in the rain and helping to boost the batteries out of the
mud, and the presentation to the regiment of a new State
flag — a New Year's gift from the State authorities — to replace
their shot-torn and tattered colors. The receiving of the
!A. Miller of Company E.
218 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
colors was made the occasion of a special parade, at which
Colonel Tuttle made a little speech and placed the new colors
in the hands of the color, bearer amid the cheers of the regi-
ment.
No regiment excelled the Sixth in patriotic feeling, and
when, in March, 1863, intelligence came of certain dis-
loyal utterances on the part of a few individuals in Yer-
mont the news aroused strong feeling in the regiment,
and occasioned the unanimous adoption by the men of a
series of resolutions, which were signed by every commis-
sioned officer present with the command, and sent to Ver-
mont. In these they denounced as traitors those who en-
couraged the enemy by unpatriotic utterances, expressed
their entire confidence in President Lincoln and willingness
to support any measures he might see fit to adopfc for the
suppression of the rebellion, and pledged on their own part
every possible effort and sacrifice in furtherance of a vigorous
prosecution of the war.
The general health of the regiment improved during the
winter. The sick list, which numbered 212 on the 1st of
January, had fallen to 125 on the 7th of March, and to 97 on
the 27th of April, 1863.
In the latter part of March, Colonel Tuttle resigned in
consequence of serious illness. He was succeeded in the
colonelcy by Lieut. Colonel Barney ; Major Hale was ap-
pointed lieutenant colonel, and Captain Richard B. Crandall,
the first adjutant of the regiment, subsequently promoted to
the captaincy of Company K., was appointed major.
On the 1st of May, 1863, the regiment left its winter
quarters, with the brigade and the army, under General
Hooker, for the Chancellorsville campaign. At the Second
Fredericksburg in the storming of Marye's Heights, May 3d,
the Sixth, under command of Colonel Barney, was the
second regiment to enter the enemy's works, passing two regi-
ments in its charge ; and in the fighting on Salem Heights
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 219
and at Banks's Ford, next day, it especially distinguished
itself, taking over 200 prisoners in the latter part of the
afternoon, and winning the enthusiastic praise of its com-
manders. Colonel Lewis of the Seventh Louisiana surren-
dered his sword to Colonel Barney at this time. The loss of
the regiment in the storming of Marye's Heights was one
killed and eight wounded. On the 4th it lost four killed ;
46 wounded, six of whom died of their wounds, and 15
missing. The latter were mostly wounded men, some of
whom after they had been carried back a mile from the
front by their comrades, were left under the charge of Sur-
geon Chandler and Sergeant S. W. Fletcher of Company
I, in a barn near Banks's Ford, and fell into the
enemy's hands after the retirement of the corps. Two of
them died there, and were buried near the barn. The rest
were paroled a week after and sent into the Union lines.
Among the killed on the 4th was Captain Luther Ainsworth
(of Waitsfield) of Company H., a reliable, unselfish, and
valuable officer, who was much respected and much missed
in the regiment. Among the wounded were Captain A. B.
Hutchinson of Company B., hit in the arm; Lieutenant
Porter Crane of Company H., in the neck; and Lieutenant
F. M. Kimball of Company G., in the arm.1
Colonel Barney, Captain Ainsworth, and Lieutenant
F. J. Butterfield, acting aid on Colonel Grant's staff, were
mentioned for gallant service on these two arduous days, in
in the report of the brigade commander.
The following regimental order was read on dress parade,
1 The men killed May 3d and 4th, were: F. Doyle, Co. B.; Warren
Henry, Co. E.; H. F. Dike,* Co. H.; A. St. George, Co. I.
Those who died of wounds were : G. Fisher, H. Marsh, Co. B.; W. IS.
S. Claflin, Co. G.; G. W. Monger, E. L. Reynolds, Co. I.j L. Sherbut, Co. I
* Missing — supposed dead.
220 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
in the camp of the Sixth, on the north side of the river, two
days after :
HEADQUARTERS SIXTH REGIMENT VERMONT VOLS., >
May 6th, 1863. j
It is with a feeling of pride and pleasure that the colonel commanding
reviews the action of the Sixth Vermont, from the crossing of the river to
the time when companies A., D. and I., the very last of the corps,
recrossed. The gallantry with which you charged across the plain and
over the heights of Fredericksburg has been noticed by the general com-
manding. The coolness exhibited by you while under fire awaiting the
enemy's assault ; the gallant manner in which you repulsed the enemy and
in turn charged him ; the number of prisoners you captured — all are proof
of your unexampled bravery and intrepidity. Do as well in the future, and
your colonel and State may well be proud of you.
By command of E. L. Barney, Colonel commanding
S. H. LINCOLN, Adjutant.
On the 5th of June, when General Howe's division was
thrown across the Eappahannock, the Sixth and Fourth regi-
ments were held back while the rest of the brigade crossed in
boats, and crossed the river about dark, on a pontoon bridge.
Next morning the Sixth was on the skirmish line, on the
south side of the river, and for three hours was engaged in
very spirited skirmishing, during which it held its ground
against a superior force. The skirmishers were also engaged
more or less during the afternoon. During the day the Sixth
lost four men killed l and 13 wounded, among the latter be-
ing Lieutenant Eaistrick of Company C.
On the 13th of June, the regiment marched for the north
with the Sixth corps, and saw its next serious fighting at
Funkstown, Md., on the 10th of July. In that famous affair
the Sixth was among the first to be engaged, and held its
ground with a loss of three killed and 18 wounded, four of them
fatally.8 Among the wounded was Second Lieutenant Fred M.
Kimball of Company G., whom Colonel Grant mentions in
1 J. Hines, A. Jeffts, Co. E., D. Jesmer, Co. L; N. Potter, Co. K.
2 The killed were M. Abbott, G. M. Patridge, Co. D.; W. P. Craig,
Co. G.; and N. Hennon, Co. F.; F. Gaboree, W. A. Green and M. H.
Lackie, Co. K., died of their wounds.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 221
his report as "a gallant officer." He had been wounded
seriously at Banks's Ford, and after this second injury was
obliged to resign, and received an honorable discharge in
October following.
When the Vermont brigade was ordered to New York to
maintain order during the draft, the Sixth left Alexandria for
New York, on the 18th of August, embarking with the Third
and part of the Fourth on the steamer Illinois, which nar-
rowly escaped wreck by collision with a schooner in Chesa-
peake Bay. One man, Truman W. Blood of Company I was
lost overboard in this collision and drowned, and several
others were slightly injured. Arriving in New York on the
21st, the regiment was stationed with the Third in Tompkins
Square, and afterwards went to Kingston, N. Y., where it re-
mained from the 6th to the 13th of September. Its duty there
ended, it joined the brigade at Alexandria, September 16th.
A sad event at this time was the death of Asst. Surgeon
Cornelius A. Chapin, who died in New York of typhoid fever,
on the 14th of September.1
The beginning of the third year of its service, October
16th, 1863, found but 322 of the thousand men who originally
composed the regiment remaining in its ranks. Kecruits
received at different times, however, had kept its aggregate
above 500,a the limit of numbers below which regiments were
liable to consolidation, under the rules of the War Depart-
ment.
During the month of October, the subject of re-enlist-
ing for the war was much discussed by officers and men,
resulting in a formal offer to the War Department, in which
1 Dr. Chapin was a Williston boy, a graduate of both the classical and
medical departments of the University of Vermont, an estimable young
man, and of high promise in his profession. His remains were taken to
Williston for interment.
2 The morning report of October 7th, showed an aggregate of 534, with
417 on duty and 110 sick.
222 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
all but three officers and 75 men joined, to re-enlist as a
veteran cavalry regiment, provided the regiment should be
permitted to go home on furlough and recruit its ranks to
the maximum. This proposition was not accepted by the War
Department, and nothing came of it. Two months later 191
men re-enlisted for the war without conditions. During this
month, the regiment received a new chaplain, Rev. Alonzo
"Webster of Windsor, who had been chaplain of the Sixteenth
during its nine months term of service, who took the place of
Chaplain Stone, resigned ; and a new surgeon, in place of
Surgeon Chandler, resigned, in the person of Dr. Edwin
Phillips, of Tinmouth, who went out with the Sixth as a
private, was detailed as hospital steward, subsequently was
appointed assistant surgeon of the Fourth, and now returned
to the Sixth as surgeon.
On the 15th of October, the regiment being then near
Centreville, Lieutenant Henry Jones of Company C, while
going to Fairfax with a mess team and guard, was captured
by guerrillas.
On the 19th of October, the Sixth was marching with
the Sixth corps, across Bull Run and past Sudley Church,
over what the boys called "Meade and Lee's through Express
line between Alexandria and Culpepper," and on the afternoon
of that day had a lively skirmish at Gainesville with Stuart's
cavalry. Stuart, with superior numbers, was pressing back
General Custer, with whom was the First Yermont cavalry,
and had got him under pretty good headway, when the Con-
federate troops found themselves confronted by the Sixth Ver-
mont and Seventh Maine ; and a volley from the infantry
brought the pursuit to an end. The Sixth was on picket
that night, and next day was in the advance of the divi-
sion, and drove back the Confederate cavalry to New Balti-
more.
The regiment was under fire with the brigade and other
troops of Howe's Division, in the engagement at Rappahan-
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 223
nock Station on the 7th of November, and again on the 27th,
when the Division supported the Third Corps at the battle of
Locust Grove ; but it was not actively engaged and suffered
no loss on either day.
The Sixth remained with the Brigade at Brandy Station
through the winter, and took part in the reconnoissance
made by the Sixth Corps to Orange Court House during the
last week in February. The winter was marked by an unu-
sual degree of religious interest in the regiment. Prayer
meetings conducted by the chaplain were held almost every
evening in the chapel tent, and a small regimental church
was organized, which was the only such church in the
brigade. Some two hundred recruits joined the regiment
during the winter months, and on the opening of the Spring
campaign of 1864 against Richmond, its aggregate was about
600, of whom nearly 550 marched into the Wilderness.
In April 1864, the regiment lost its trusty and capable
Quartermaster, John W. Clark, by his appointment as cap-
tain and A. Q. M. of volunteers and his removal to a more
responsible position. He was succeeded as quartermaster
by Lieutenant Charles J. S. Randall, who had been quarter-
master-sergeant and subsequently Lieutenant of Company A.
To say that the Sixth fought with desperate bravery,
and suffered fearfully in the battles of the Wilderness, is the
same as saying that it was a regiment of the old First bri-
gade. In the bloody fighting of May 5th and 6th, the Sixth
had 35 men killed outright, and 169 wounded, 26 of whom
died of their wounds. The casualties were distributed very
evenly through the line, no company having less than three
killed or mortally wounded, or less than twelve wounded.
Among the officers killed was Colonel Barney. While hold-
ing his men to their work on the left of the Orange Plank
road, in the first day's battle, he was struck in the temple by
a partially spent musket ball which entered the head but did
not kill him outright. He was, taken to the rear and thence
224 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
by ambulance to Fredericksburg, where lie died on the 10th.
Colonel Elislia L. Barney was a member of a Swanton
family which furnished six soldiers of his name to the war
for the Union. He was the son of Mr. George Barney,
two of whose sons were field officers of Vermont regiments.1
He was a merchant in Swanton, when he enlisted in Oct.
1861. He was mustered into the service as captain of Com-
pany K., of the Sixth ; narrowly escaped with his life at the
storming of Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862, when he was
dangerously wounded in the same temple in which he after-
wards received his mortal wound ; — was promoted major in
October 1862 ; distinguished himself in various battles and
especially at the Second Fredericksburg ; and was promoted
to the colonelcy, March 18th, 1863. He was a man of high
Christian character, brave to a fault, a faithful and respected
commander, a good disciplinarian, and a gallant leader. His
death caused a deep sensation in his regiment, in the bri-
gade, and at his home. His remains were taken to Vermont
and were interred at Swanton with extraordinary marks of
respect. A concourse of some 2,000 people assembled at his
funeral. The places of business were closed. On his coffin
was laid, as a trophy, the sword of the colonel of the Seventh
Louisiana, who surrendered to Colonel Barney at Fredericks-
burg in May 1863. All mourned for him, as for a brother.
Captain Kiley A. Bird (of Bristol) of Company A., a
soldier of rare merit, especially distinguished himself on the
first day, and died before its close. He was first wounded
in the head, and advised to go to the rear, but with the blood
streaming down his face he sternly and even angrily refused,
saying that it was " the business of no live man to go to the
rear at such a time." Soon a second musket ball struck him
in the thigh. He retired a few steps, sat down, took off his
'A younger son, Valentine G. Barney— named after Capt. Valentine
Goodrich, who commanded a Swanton company in the war of 1812 and
fell at Lundy's Lane— was Lieut. Colonel of the Ninth Vermont.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 225
sash, bound it round his leg, and then resumed his place in
the line. A third bullet pierced his heart, and he fell dead
with the word with which he was cheering on his men cut
short upon his lips. Captain George C. Randall, (of Wood-
stock) of Company F.; First Lieutenant George C. Babcock,
(of Poultney) of Company F., and First Lieutenant John G.
Macomber, (of Westford) of Company C., all brave and
meritorious officers, were also among the killed. Adjutant
Sumner H. Lincoln, Captain Carlos W. Dwinell, Company C.,
and Lieutenant E. A. Holton, Company I., were among the
wounded, the latter receiving a wound in the leg, which
occasioned his honorable discharge three months after.1
1 The rank and file killed in the Wilderness were :
Company A.— W. Greenwood, D. Hill, M. E. Rider.
Company B.— M. C. Martin, A. Whitcomb.
Company C. — J. Burnham, S. Davis.
Company D.— W. A. Cook, S. Forsyth, Lewis La Bounty,* W. L.
Livingston, H. Tilden, H. C. Welsh.
Company E.— W. Graves, J. W. Page, H. C. Wright.
Company F.— J. Conner.
Company G. — G. C. Boyce.
Company H.— A. C. Little, L. M. Spaulding, H. H. Whitney.
Company L— D. M. Holton, J. B. Nichols, T. Russell, E. D. Sands,
O. A. Scribner, H. C. Vantyne.
Company K. — H. Hutchins, P. Morgan.
Those who died of their wounds were :
Company A.— M. Mancy, W. W. Wheeler.
Company B. — M. C. Stratton.f
Company C.— W. E. Anderson, M. Cummings, H. Durphy, J. H.
Eaton.
Company D.— L. C. Allen, J. LaMarsh, E. J. Williams.
Company E.— H. Greeley, N. F. Scott.
Company F.— P. N. Bates.
Company G.— W. Cleveland, C. P. Divoll, B. Ricker.
Company H.— G. C. Bliss, L. W. Blodgett, G. P. Whitney.
Company I.— J. J. LaMarsh, W. Shackett, H. O. Snow, N. Woodworth.
Company K.— R. Maine, B. Sherbut.
William Cox, Co. F. , and I. Ramo, Co. K. , were not seen after the battle
of the Wildnerness and were probably killed.
* Missing — supposed dead.
t Wounded and prisoner — not heard of after.
15
226 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
After the mortal wounding of Colonel Barney, the com-
mand of the regiment devolved on Lieut. Colonel Hale. The
Sixth shared the forced march of the brigade to Spottsylvania,
on the 8th of May ; and was one of the regiments honored
by being selected to help form the column which, under
Colonel Upton, carried the enemy's salient on the 10th.
Among the wounded in that famous charge was Captain A.
H. Keith (of Sheldon) of Company K., who received a musket
ball through the shoulder, inflicting an injury from which he
never fully recovered and which occasioned his honorable
discharge in September following.
On the 15th of May, the thinned ranks of the regiment
were strengthened by the addition of two companies of draft-
ed men, 149 in number, who had been on detached duty for
over a year at Brattleboro. They were a welcome addition,
and raised the effective force of the regiment to 450 men.
The losses of the regiment in the almost continuous
fighting from the 8th to the 21st of May, were four killed ; 29
wounded, five of whom died of their wounds, and three miss-
ing. Most of these casualties occurred on the 10th. In the
next two weeks the regiment lost four men killed and 18
wounded, of whom three died of wounds.1 On the 7th of June,
when the brigade was holding a portion of the entrenched
line of the Sixth corps at Cold Harbor, the regiment suffered
the loss of another field officer, Major Eichard B. Crandall,
who received a mortal wound in the abdomen and died the
same day. Major Crandall went out as adjutant of the regi-
ment, was subsequently captain of Company K., and was
appointed major in March, 1863. He was a gallant young
officer, and was deeply mourned by the command. His body
'The men killed at Spottsylvania were: C. G. McAllister, Co. A.;
T. O. Barber, G. S. Pratt, Co. C.; S. P. Perkins, Co. D.; H. T. Mosely,
C. C. Cleveland, Co. I.
Those who died of their wounds were: S. Stebbins, Co. A.; C. A.
Knapp, Co. B.; M. H. Barker, K Smith, J. A. Scabie, Co. C.; D. C. Bab-
cock, Co. D.; J. E. Averill, J. Campbell, Co. K.
THE SIXTH BEGIMENT. 227
was sent to his home in Berlin, for interment. Two men
killed and four wounded were added to the list of casualties
between the 4th and 10th of June.1
The regiment crossed the James on the 16th of June with
the brigade. In the assault on the defences of Petersburg,
June 18th, the Sixth was held in reserve. The next day it was
under fire in the front line, and had a man mortally wounded.
On the 20th it was again under sharp fire and lost another
man mortally wounded.2 In the disastrous affair at the
Weldon railroad, June 23, the regiment was more fortunate
than some others of the brigade, and lost only one man, -
wounded.
An incident of the siege of Petersburg is worthy of re-
lation here, though not strictly part of the service of the
Sixth. During the spring of 1864, Dan Mason, the tall
orderly sergeant of Company D., and Sergeant Alexander W.
Davis of the same company, of the Sixth, were promoted
to positions in colored regiments, Mason being appointed
Captain in the 19th and Davis in the 39th U. S. C. T., of the
Fourth division of the Ninth Army Corps. On the 30th of
July, 1864, these regiments took part in the assault on the
enemy's works near the "crater" made by the explosion of
the Petersburg mine. In the rout of the division which
followed, Lieutenant Davis came back to the Union lines,
with the mass of the brigade of which his regiment was a
part, while Captain Mason took shelter with others in a
bomb-proof within the enemy's lines. When they were driven
out by the enemy, Captain Mason made a home run for the
Federal lines, passed untouched through a shower of bullets,
and sprang over the sandbags of the Union lines, to fall in-
1 The men killed at Cold Harbor were: B. M. Ware, Co. E.; E. M.
Farr, Co. F.; G. F. Wilson, Co. G.
Those who died of wounds were: F. W. Sprague, Co. A.; H. J.
Baker, Co. F. ; E. E. Burroughs, I. 8. Gove, Co. G.
8 These were : William Lane, Co. I.: and W. Gardner, Co. F.
228 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
sensible from an apoplectic attack brought on by excitement
and over exertion. As it happened he fe]l at the feet of his
old tent-mate, Lieutenant Davis, whe was able to render him
assistance which restored him to consciousness and probably
saved his life.1
In July the Sixth went with the Sixth corps to Washing-
ton to repel Early's raid. In the sharp engagement at
Charlestown, Ya., on the 21st of August, the regiment, under
Lieut. Colonel Hale, held the centre of the skirmish line, and
suffered more severely than any other regiment of the brigade,
losing eight killed ; 31 wounded, two of whom died of wounds,
and one missing. Both its field officers, Lieut. Colonel Hale
and Major Dwinell, were severely wounded ; and the latter
died of his wounds, three days after, in a hospital at Balti-
more.9
After the loss of its field officers the command of the
regiment fell for six weeks upon Captain M. Warner Davis of
Company D. The regiment entered on the Shenandoah
campaign, under General Sheridan, with an effective force of
385 officers and men, out of an aggregate of 658. In the
battle of the Opequan, September 19th, the Sixth was on the
1 Captain Mason lived to see Petersburg taken, and died at Browns-
ville, Texas, where he was on duty with his regiment, in December, 1865.
His remains were taken to his former home in Glover, for interment, and a
post of the Grand Army of the Republic, in that town, bears his name.
2 Major Carlos W. Dwinell was a native of Calais, Vt. He enlisted at
the age of 23, from the town of Glover, was elected second lieutenant of Co.
D. at its organization in October, 1861, was subsequently adjutant of the
regiment, and reached the rank of major by successive promotions. He
was a quiet, painstaking and valuable officer, and a favorite in the regiment
and the brigade.
The men killed at Charlestown were S. Spooner, Co. A.; A. Whitcomb,
Co. B.; H. S. Foster, A. Thomas, Co. C.; L. B. Cook, Co. D.; W. H. Ing.
leston,* Co. E.; E. R. Richardson, Co. H.; L. Poquet, Co. I.
Those who died of their wounds were S. P. Dean, Co. C., and A. M.
Gray, Co. D.
* Reported missing in action and supposed dead.
THE SIXTH KEGIMENT. 229
skirmish line in the forenoon, and becoming accidentally
separated from the brigade and the second division, fought
during the latter half of the day with the third division,
General Eicketts's, of the Sixth corps, and gained especial
credit. Its loss was five killed outright and 46 wounded, of
whom six died of their wounds.1 Among the wounded were
Adjutant Sumner H. Lincoln, who was hit in the head early
in the day; and Captain C. E. Joslyn of Company A., severely
wounded in the head, creating a disability which occasioned
his honorable discharge several months after.
The Sixth took an honorable part in the battle of Fisher's
Hill, without loss. The three }-ears' term of the original
members of the Sixth expired October 16th, and on that
day, as many as had not re-enlisted, being 14 officers and 120
men, left the regiment, then in camp at Cedar Creek, and
returned to Vermont. They arrived at Brattleboro in the
evening of the 20th, and were mustered out October 28th.
Among the officers so retiring were Lieut. Colonel Hale, still
suffering from his recent wound ; Chaplain Webster ; Captains
M. W. Davis, B. D. Fabyan, Thomas E. Clark, Porter Crane,
Jr., and Frank D. Butterfield, and Lieutenants W. W. Carey,
C. C. Backus, George H. Hatch, Matthew Hurry, George
Neddo, E. H. Nye, and Thomas Murphy.
The battalion of about 320 effective men remaining in
the field was consolidated into six companies, — Company B.
being consolidated with Company H., Company D. with I.,
Company E. with K., and Company F. with A. The battalion
was under the command of Capt. E. E. Kinney, until, on the
21st of October, Adjutant Sumner H. Lincoln was promoted
to the command with the rank of major, — a fit recognition
of his gallantry and fitness for command.
1 The killed September 19th were : A. A. Spaulding, Co. C.; C. Blake,
€. P. Upham, Co. D.; S. Leazer, Co. E.; D. Colt, Co. H.
Those who died of their wounds were: L. A. Tyler, C. B.; S. P.
White, J. Vondal, Co. C.: E. S. Gray, Co. D.; John Fitzsimmons, Co. F.;
T. S. Barney, Co. I.
230 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
At Cedar Creek, Oct 19th, the regiment was commanded
by Captain Kinney until he was wounded, when he was suc-
ceeded in the command by Captain William J. Sperry of
Company C. The regiment lost four men killed, 32 wounded,
six of whom died of their wounds, and eight missing.1
The Sixth left the Shenandoah Yalley with the Sixth
corps on the 9th of December, and on the 13th of that month
went into winter quarters between the camps of the Third
and Fifth regiments on the south of Petersburg. The picket
and fatigue duty were severe ; but the health of the regiment
improved during the winter.
The morning report of the 1st of January, 1865, showed
an aggregate of 555, with 347 on duty and 195 on the sick
list. Major Lincoln was promoted to be lieutenant colonel in
January, and Captain Sperry was appointed major.
In the assault on the enemy's entrenched picket line in
front of Fort Fisher, on the 25th of March, the Sixth had the
left of the front line, and was under artillery fire for hours,
with, however, the loss of but one man wounded.
In the final assault on the defences of Petersburg, the
regiment was commanded by Major Sperry, Colonel Lincoln
being laid up with intermittent fever. The Sixth entered the
enemy's works among the foremost, was in the front line
during the subsequent movement, and men of the Sixth
assisted in the capture of a battery near the Turnbull house,
elsewhere narrated. The regiment lost two men killed and
19 wounded, of whom one died of his wounds.*
The regiment shared in the pursuit of Lee's army after
'The killed at Cedar Creek were: C. Parmenter, Co. C.; W. H.
Chapman, Co. E.; J. P. Horr, J. Kelley, Company F.
Those who died of their wounds were : A. L. Cox, Co. A.; C. H.
Hardy, Co. C.; E. Morse, Co. H.; W. D. Mather, Co. I.; J. Betney,
W. O'Hara, Co. K.
2S. P. Peck, Co. L; and M. Green, Co. K., were killed, and N. H.
Atwood, Co. C., died of his wounds.
THE SIXTH EEGIMENT. 231
the fall of Kichmond, rested with the brigade at Danville,
visited the fallen capital, and early in June went into camp
near Munson's Hill, about three miles from its first camp in-
Virginia in 1861.
On the 19th of June the recruits, whose terms of service
would expire before October 1st, 1865, were mustered out of
the service. Their number included one commissioned
officer, Adjutant English, and 140 enlisted men. The re-
mainder of the Sixth, numbering 398 officers and men, were
mustered out on the 26th of June. Those of them who were
able to travel, 297 in number, left camp next day for Ver-
mont. Of the officers of the regiment at the close of its
service, Lieut. Colonel Sumner H. Lincoln went out with the
regiment as private in 1861, was appointed adjutant in
February 1863, was wounded in the "Wilderness and again
at Winchester, was appointed major in October 1864, and
lieutenant colonel in January 1865. He was commissioned
as colonel by the governor June 4th, 1865, but was mustered
out as lieutenant colonel. Major William J. Sperry enlisted
as a private in September 1861, and was promoted succes-
sively through all the grades to the majority. He was bre-
vetted lieutenant colonel for gallantry in the assault on Peters-
burg, April 2d, and received a commission as lieutenant
colonel from the governor, but was mustered out as major.
Quartermaster Charles J. S. Randall went out with the
regiment as private in 1861, was appointed quartermaster-
sergeant, and subsequently first lieutenant of Company A.
Surgeon Edwin Phillips also went out at the beginning as a
private ; he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Fourth
regiment in August 1862, and became surgeon of the Sixth
in October 1863. Chaplain Harvey Webster had served in
that capacity since November 1864. Captain Edwin E.
Kinney of Company G., was commissioned major in June,
but was mustered out as captain. Seventeen other line
officers returned with the regiment, viz. : Captains George E.
232 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Wood, George W. Burleson, Henry N. Bushnell, Lyman
S. Williams and Sanford G. Gray ; Lieutenants Patrick H.
Murphy, (commissioned as captain but mustered out as first
lieutenant), Edwin A. Barney, Harry B. Pettingill, Frank A.
Trask, Eri L. Ditty, George W. Flanders, William Raycroft,
Herman L. Small, Horace W. Brownell, Winslow S. Moore,
Edgar E. Herrick, and Silas O. Dwinnell. Sergeant Henry
Martin of Company G., was appointed adjutant in June,
and Sergeant Peter Begor of Company A., second lieute-
nant; but both were mustered out as sergeants.
The regiment arrived at Burlington at midnight of the
29th of June, 1865, and like all the returning regiments was
received by a numerous concourse of citizens. Marching to
the city hall the veterans were welcomed home by William G.
Shaw, Esq., in fitting terms. The ladies of Burlington served
a supper for them in the hall in the small hours of the morn-
ing, and sang songs of welcome, and gave them three cheers
and a "tiger," all to the immense entertainment and pleasure
of the soldiers. The latter were furloughed for a week, to
await the arrival of the U. S. paymaster. Reassembling at
Burlington on the 8th of July, they were paid off by Major
Wadleigh, U. S. A., and then finally dispersed to their homes.
Among the men of the Sixth who returned not from the
war, the names of the following are recorded as having given
up their lives in Confederate prisons :
DIED IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS.
M. W. Bentley, Co. A., died at Anderson ville, August 7, 1864.
C. Chamberlin, Co. A., died at Anderson ville, July 29, 1864.
A. K. Wilson. Co. A., died at Andersonville, July 31, 1864.
G. W. Whitehill, Co. B., captured May 5, 1864, died at Andersonville.
H. L. Jones, Co. C., died at Andersonville, July 14, 1864.
I. T. Maxham, Co. C., died at Andersonville, September 11, 1864.
P. A. Whitney, Co. C., captured July 1, 1862, supposed to have died
in Richmond, Va.
J. M. Green, Co. D., died in Richmond, 1862.
G.L. Marble, Co. G., captured October 19, 1864, died at Richmond,
December, 1864.
THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 233
M. C. Chase, Co. H. , captured in the Wilderness, died at Andersonville,
July 3, 1864.
M. Lester, Co. L, died at Salisbury, N. C., December 11, 1864.
The battles in which the Sixth Yermont volunteers took
honorable part, as officially recorded, were as follows :
THE BATTLES OF THE SIXTH VERMONT.
Lee's Mill, April 16, 1863
Williamsburg, May 5, 1862
Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862
Savage's Station, June 29, 1862
White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862
Crampton's Gap Sept. 14, 1862
Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862
Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862
Marye's Heights, May 3, 1863
Salem Heights, May 4, 1863
Fredericksburg, June 5, 1863
Gettysburg, July 3, 1863
Funkstown, July 10, 1863
Rappahannock Station, Nov. 7, 1863
Wilderness, - May 5 to 10, 1864
Spottsylvania, May 10 to 18, 1864
Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864
Petersburg, June 18, 1864
Charlestown, August 21, 1864
Opequan, Sept. 13, 1864
Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864
Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864
Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864
Petersburg, March 25 and 27, 1865
Petersburg, April 2. 1865
234 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
The final statement of the Sixth regiment is as follows :
FINAL STATEMENT.
Original members — com. officers 36 ; enlisted men 930, total, 966
Gain — recruits 703, transfers from other regiments 7, total, 710
Aggregate, 1680
LOSSES.
Killed in action— com. officers 8; enlisted men 95, total, 103
Died of wounds — com. officers 4; enlisted men 80, total, 84
Died of disease — com. officers 2 ; enlisted men 180, total, 182
Died (unwounded) in Confederate prisons 22 ; from accident 2, 24
Total of deaths, 393
Honorably discharged — com. officers, resigned 22 , for wounds and
disability 10 ; enlisted men, for wounds 66 ; for disability 339,
total, 437
Dishonorably discharged— com. officers 1 ; enlisted men 7, 8
Total discharged, 445
Promoted to U. S. A. and other regiments — officers 5 ; enlisted men
13, total, IS
Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, Navy, Regular Army, etc., 126
Deserted 83; unaccounted for 4, 87
Mustered out — com. officers 40 ; enlisted men 571, total 611
Aggregate, 1680
Total wounded 397
Total re-enlisted... 197
CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST BRIGADE.
Organization of the Vermont brigade — Its first commander, General Brooks-
— Winter at Camp Griffin — Remarkable period of sickness — Opening
of the Spring campaign of 1862 — Movement to Fortress Monroe — The
march up the Peninsula — Brought to a halt at Warwick River —
Baptism of blood at Lee's Mill — Incidents of the action— Care of the
wounded — The battle of Williamsburg — Fighting of Smith's division
— March to the White House on the Pamunkey.
The only brigade in the Army of the Potomac, distinc-
tively and permanently known by the name of its State, was
the First Vermont brigade. The title of "The Vermont
Brigade" attached to it chiefly, no doubt, because during most
of its history it was the only Vermont brigade ; but perhaps
also in part because the Vermonters were recognized as good
fighters and because the men of this brigade illustrated the
qualities which gave to their ancestors their distinctive title
of " Green Mountain Boys " in the War of the ^Revolution.
The first suggestion of the formation of a brigade of
Vermont regiments was made by General William F. Smith
in the fall of 1861. Up to that time, and for some time after,
it was not the policy of the government to brigade regiments
of the same State together, the theory of the army authorities
being that losses falling on brigades would be less felt if dis-
tributed over several States and that rivalry between regi-
ments of different States in the same brigade would conduce
to the efficiency of all. General Smith was allowed, however,
by General McClellan, to organize his Vermont brigade ; and
the success of the experiment \?as complete, as it was in the
236 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
case of the similar State brigades of "Wisconsin, Michigan,
New York, New Jersey and other troops.
In General McClellan's report of the organization of the
Army of the Potomac, October 15th, 1861, the Vermont regi-
ments appear as constituting the first1 brigade of General
Smith's division, the other brigades of that division be-
ing Stevens's, Hancock's and Casey's. The brigade at that
date consisted of the Second, Third, Fourth arid Fifth Ver-
mont regiments, then encamped between Chain Bridge and
Lewinsville, Va. The brigade was completed by the arrival
of the Sixth, October 24; and Captain and Bvt. Major W. T.
H. Brooks, of the Third infantry, U. S. A., who had been
serving on General McClellan's staff and had just been
appointed brigadier general of volunteers, was assigned to
its command. He was of Vermont lineage, his father
having been a native of Montpelier. He was born in Ohio,
and appointed from that State to the U. S. military academy,
from which he graduated in 1841, in the class of which Don
Carlos Buell, John F. Reynolds, and other prominent general
officers, were members. He had seen active service in the
M exican war, and on the frontier, and had established his
reputation as a brave, experienced and capable soldier. As
was the case with most officers of the regular army at that
time, he had little sympathy with the anti-slavery sentiment
which animated the soldiers and people of Vermont, and gave
no welcome to an " abolition war ;" but he proposed to do
his duty to the government and to the flag he had sworn to
serve ; and if the brigade which he commanded for a year and
a half had a noteworthy share in the overthrow of the Rebel-
lion, it was due in large part to the thorough training and
soldierly example of its first brigade commander. General
Brooks was in his forty-second year, tall and erect of figure,
unostentatious and soldierly in bearing, and from the first
1 First, that is, in order. The brigades were not then formally num-
bered.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 237
made a favorable impression on his command, which
strengthened with time and better knowledge.
Camp Griffin, the camp of the brigade for five months,
and for a longer period than was spent by it in any other spot,
always had a distinct place in the memory of the Vermonters
who there saw their first campaigning. It was in a fine roll-
ing country, of varied open fields and magnificent woodlands,
many acres of which fell under the axes of the Vermont boys.
The knolls around had been dotted with mansions, many of
which were already in ruins under the ruthless touch of war.
The soil was, the red Virginia clay, so unlike that of New
England. The camp was on the road from Chain Bridge to
Lewinsville, a mile and a half from the latter hamlet, and
on and around Smoot's Hill, from the top of which the camps
of most of the twenty-five regiments and batteries of General
Smith's division could be seen covering the country round, a
part of the constantly increasing army, which stretched for
five miles up and down the Potomac in front of Washing-
ton. The Confederate outposts were five or six miles away,
and the mass of the Confederate army, under General Joe
Johnston, lay at Centreville and Manassas, fifteen miles to
the southwest.
The thing which chiefly gave the brigade distinction
during the fall of 1861, was the extraordinary amount of sick-
ness which prevailed in the regiments. This began to be
remarkable in November, and soon attracted anxious atten-
tion in Vermont, and wide notice throughout the army. On
the 12th of December, Dr. Edward E. Phelps, one of the fore-
most physicians in Vermont, who had been sent by the
governor to investigate the subject on the ground, reported
that of the men of the five regiments, numbering 4,939 on
the ground, no less than 1,086, or about one-fourth, were
excused from duty in consequence of sickness. Of these, 201
were sick in hospital, 245 sick in their tents, and 550 able to
be up and about though unfit for duty. The prevailing dis-
238 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
eases were remittent and intermittent fevers, typhoid pneu-
monia and diarrhoea. The only cause Dr. Phelps could
assign for this condition of things, was that the regiments had
been too long stationary in their camps, on soil which had
became saturated with noxious elements. But why these
conditions affected the Yermonters, above all others similarly
situated, was not explained.
In the general report of the Medical Director of the
Army of the Potomac, Surgeon Charles S. Tripler, upon the
sanitary condition of the army from March, 1861, to August,
1862, he said : " In November, 1861, with a mean ratio of
"6.6 per cent, sick in the whole army, twelve Massachusetts
"regiments gave an average of 50 sick each; five Vermont,
" an average of 144 each ; and thirty-five Pennsylvania, an
"average of 61 each. In January, 1862, the Twelfth Mas-
'"sachusetts, 1,005 strong, had but four sick ; the Thirteenth,
"1,OC3 strong, but 11 ; while the Fifteenth, 809 strong had
"68. In the same month the Fifth Vermont, 1,000 strong,
"had 271 sick ; the Fourth, 1,047 strong, had 244 sick ; while
"the Second, 1,021 strong, had but 87, and the Third, 900
"strong, had but 84. All these regiments were in the same
" brigade and encamped side by side." Among the causes of
disease, Surgeon Tripler mentioned severe fatigue duty on
the field works, exposure on picket duty, and frequent alarms
in some portions of the lines. This last cause, he says, " was
particularly the case in front of some of the Vermont troops
in Brooks's brigade," and he thinks it may have had an
unfavorable effect on men predisposed to disease from other
causes. If so, it was not, however, because the Vermonters
scared easily. The night alarms which deprived them of
needed rest, came invariably from the other troops around
them.
In a special report of January 28th, 1862, Medical
Director Tripler says : " The Vermont regiments in Brooks's
" brigade give us the largest ratio of sick, of all the troops in
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 239
"this army, and that ratio has not essentially varied for
"the last three months. They suffered in the first place from
"measles. In this they simply shared the lot of all irregular
"troops. Since then they have been and are the subjects of
" fevers, remittent and typhoid. The inspector of hospitals,
" (Surgeon Keeney) reports the police1 of all these regiments
" as good, their clothing good, their tents good, with the ex-
" ception of the Second and Third regiments, and, strange to
"say, those two regiments are in decidedly the best sanitary
"condition. The locations of the camps of the Fifth and
" Sixth are reported as bad, but that of the Third is also bad.
tt # # "\yhile writing I have received another weekly re-
41 port from the Vermont brigade, which shows a large increase
"of sick over that of the preceding week. * * * The
"food of our men is now good and they are gradually im-
" proving in their cooking. The clothing of the men is gen-
" erally good. I do not think any deficiency in this respect
" has anything to do with the fevers that scourge our Vermont
" troops. * * * I believe there is a nostalgic element in
" those regiments affecting them unfavorably."
On the 6th of February, 1862, Surgeon Tripler reported
that he had sent a large detachment of convalescents to Phila-
delphia, in order to make room for the sick of the Vermont
brigade in the general hospitals, " in hopes that some bene-
ficial effect might result to the well from removing the sick
from their sight, and thus avoiding the depressing influence
of so much sickness among their comrades." Among the
other special measures taken by the State and government
authorities to care for the sick, five additional assistant
surgeons were detailed for service in the brigade ;2 log houses
1 Unmilitary readers will understand that this term in the army has sole
reference to cleanliness. To "police" a camp is to clear it of dirt and
noxious deposits.
2 Three of them— Asst. Surgeons Porter, Phillips and D. W. Hazelton,
were sent out by the governor, and two, Asst. Surgeons Shaw and Good-
win by the U. S. surgeon general.
240 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
were substituted for hospital tents, care was taken by the
regimental officers to remove causes of disease from the
camps, and deficiencies in clothing were supplied. These
means and precautions had their effect, and as the winter
drew to a close the health of the regiments improved, and the
spirits of the men, who had been much depressed by the
mortality in the ranks, rose correspondingly.
The work of the winter was drill — though the deep mud
in January and February made necessary a suspension of
battalion and brigade drills — ; picket duty, each regiment
taking its turn on picket once in five days ; and fatigue duty
on the forts near the camps. The officers generally built
comfortable log cabins for their quarters, and many of them
had their wives with them in camp. The picket duty, in the
cold rains and frequent storms of snow and sleet, was severe,
but not very dangerous, one man (of the Second regiment)
killed on picket being the extent of the casualties. The
occasional reconnoissances, heretofore described in the regi-
mental histories, afforded excitement for the time being.
Contrabands frequently came into the lines and always found
a safe refuge in the camps. One night in February, twenty-
seven colored fugitives came in, were fed, and sent to Wash-
ington by General Brooks.
During the last half of February the weather became
much milder. The mud dried so that battalion drills were
resumed ; and Washington's birthday was celebrated by a
brigade dress parade. The cheerful news of the captures of
Forts Henry and Donelson, received about this time, raised
the spirits of all : the desire to be led against the enemy be-
came strong among the troops, and by none was the pros-
pect of active operations more eagerly welcomed than by the
Vermonters.
In the organization, in March, 1862, of the vast army with
which McClellan was now about to take the field, Brooks's
Vermont brigade formed a part of General Wm. F. Smith's
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 241
division of the Fourth Corps, General Keyes. The division
was one of the best in the army. Its commander, General
" Baldy" Smith, was recognized as one of the most valuable
officers in the service ; its three brigade commanders, Gen-
erals Hancock, Brooks and Davidson, were trained soldiers
who subsequently won high distinction ; and their brigades
comprised the Thirty-third and Forty-ninth New York,
Seventh Maine, Fifth Wisconsin, and others subsequently
famous as fighting regiments. Four light batteries, Ayres's,
Mott's, Wheeler's and Kennedy's, were attached to the divi-
sion.
At midnight on the 9th of March came the order to have
two days' rations cooked and to march at 3 o'clock in the
morning. It was received with cheers and rejoicing through-
out the brigade. Bonfires of combustibles which the men
could not carry and would rather burn than leave, began to
blaze in the company streets. The packing of knapsacks,
writing letters to friends at home and other preparations oc-
cupied the short hours of the night ; and before dawn the
brigade was marshaled, with the division, on the open plain.
At sunrise it moved off through Lewinsville and past Vienna,
to the southwest, the men not doubting that they were to
meet the enemy, perhaps on the plains of Manassas ; and
rejoicing with an eagerness which the drizzling rain could not
dampen, in the prospect of an opportunity to wipe out, on
the same field, the disgrace of Bull Run, and to end the war
in a great pitched battle. The troops marched for the most
part through the fields, the roads being left to the long trains
of army wagons ; and the march presented to the men the
striking sights and scenes, new to most of them, which mark
the movement of a great army. Shortly after noon the bri-
gade halted at Flint Hill, north of Fairfax Court House.
It remained halted during the afternoon. Something evi-
dently had arrested the movement of the division, and toward
night came the explanation, in a whispered rumor that there
•16
242 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was no enemy in front to be attacked. The night was spent
under shelter-tents1 — the first experience of the men under
such scanty shelter. Next morning the rumor was confirmed,
and it became known that General Joe Johnston — who, with
an army which at no time numbered fifty thousand men for
duty, had for six months kept the Confederate flag flying
within sight of the National capital— had now, at his own
time and on his own motion, evacuated Centreville, and
taking with him his guns and material, had retired beyond
the Kappahannock. General McClellan had ably organized
an army of 175,000 men ; had instilled into it absolute con-
fidence in himself ; had communicated to it with a few ex-
ceptions2 his own delusion that the rebel army in front of
Washington exceeded a hundred thousand me a ; had held
them inactive during precious weeks, some of them quite
favorable for military movements — and this against constant
pressure and even orders to move from the President — and
now found himself confronted, not by a powerful enemy but
by empty camps and a new situation.
The brigade remained at Flint Hill for four days, during
which McClellan and his generals were maturing plans for a
change of base and campaign against Kichniond by way of
the Peninsula between the York and James Kivers.
On the 12th the division was reviewed by General
McClellan.
On Saturday the 15th, in a drenching rain, the brigade
moved with the division to Alexandria — a march of over
Strips of 'cotton cloth, two of which, buttoned together, made a low
shelter for two men. The tents occupied by the brigade during the win-
ter had been left standing at Camp Griffin.
2 General Wadsworth, who was stationed near Ball's Cross roads, told
Mr. Greeley, in January, that the testimony of numerous deserters had sat-
isfied him that the rebels had " but fifty or sixty regiments— certainly not
over 50,000 men." General Johnston's aggregate present for duty in
February was 47,306. General McClellan's aggregate present for duty at
that time was 150,000.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 243
twenty miles by the route taken and the hardest march the
men (except those of the Second) had experienced. The
transports were not ready, and on Monday the brigade
marched back four miles to Cloud's Mills, where it re-
mained a week. On Sunday, March 23d, it marched to
Alexandria again and embarked. The spirits of the men were
high, and the moving of the division, of 13,000 men, with
bands playing and colors flying, on board of the large
steamers waiting with steam up to take them to some des-
tination as yet unknown but concerning which it was enough
to know that it was some point in the South, where they
would meet the enemy — was an imposing spectacle and not
soon forgotten by those who witnessed it.
The fleet of transports bearing the Fourth Corps an-
chored for the night opposite Mount Yernon, and next day
steamed down the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, past shores
of historic interest, now first seen by most of the Yermonters,
and arrived off Fortress Monroe during the night. The next
morning's light presented to their wondering gaze the frown-
ing battlements of Fortress Monroe ; the little Monitor,
already world-famous from her encounter with the Merrimac
two weeks before 5* the waters of Hampton Hoads, black with
steamers, ships of war and craft of all sizes, by hundreds?
and the beach and shores covered with masses of infantry,
trains of artillery and lines of army wagons. The brigade
debarked, and at 10 A. M. took up its line of march past the
fort, across the Hampton Kiver, past the naked chimneys and
charred ruins of what was once the ancient and beautiful
village of Hampton, and out three or four miles toward
Newport News, over ground familiar to those who had been
1 It may be noted here, that John F. Winslow, one of the two men
who backed Ericsson with money and powerful influence, secured the con-
tract for the Monitor from the government, and crowded the work of con-
struction to completion in a hundred and one days, was a native Vermonter,
born in Bennington.
244 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAB.
members of the First Yermont, halting and camping in the
grain fields and pine groves of a plantation near the banks
of the James Eiver. Here it remained for two days.
The army taken by General McClellan to the Peninsula
and now gathering in bivouacs on the roads leading out from
Hampton, consisted of the Second Corps, General Sumner ;
the Third, General Heintzleman, and the Fourth, General
Keyes — comprising eight divisions, each from 12,000 to 15,000
strong, and 31 batteries ; and forming, with the reserve artil-
lery, cavalry, and regulars, an army of about 120,000 men
and 44 batteries. Of the two corps left behind, the Fifth,
General Banks, was for the immediate protection of Wash-
ington; while the First, General McDowell, was expected
by General McClellan — though his expectation was disap-
pointed— to co-operate with the main army by a movement
from the right bank of the York River. As the troops landed
on the Peninsula and moved out into the open country,
they were arranged in two columns, one of which was to
march on the right direct to Yorktown, and the other to
to move on the left along the James Eiver by way of War-
wick Court House to Williamsburg. General Smith's division
headed the second column.
Before the army moved as a whole, strong reconnois-
sances were pushed up the Peninsula from each column. That
on the west side of the Peninsula was conducted by Smith's
division, and that on the east by Fitz John Porter's. These
started at sunrise on the 27th, marching over the same road
for five miles, and then diverging, Smith's division bore to the
left toward Warwick Court House, and Porter's towards Big
Bethel. The day was fine, the roads dry, and the country
delightful. Eows of locust trees lined the roads, rich groves
of oak and peach orchards in full bloom diversified the scene,
and the long lines of troops, extending for miles, their mus-
kets glittering in the sunlight, made an inspiring spectacle.
After a march of about ten miles, Hancock's brigade,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 245
which was leading the division, came upon the enemy's pick-
ets near Deep Creek. Smith halted, and prepared to en-
counter the enemy, supposed to be in force. The fences were
levelled, and artillery thrown into battery. The Vermont
brigade was deployed in front of the woods through which
the Confederate pickets had disappeared. The right wing of
the Second regiment, under Colonel Whiting, was sent by
General Brooks a mile to the right to hold the road towards
Big Bethel ; and the left wing under Lieut. Colonel Stannard
was thrown forward as skirmishers.1 But as after advancing
for a mile no enemy was found, the brigade was halted,
marched back a mile and bivouacked for the night. Next
day the division returned down the Peninsula and the brigade
went into camp about two miles above Newport News. Here
it. remained a week, during which time some heavy rains
set the camps afloat. The weather, however, was warm and
the men made ample use of their opportunities for bathing
in the river, and feasting on Virginia oysters, gathered from
the shoals. The events of the week were the appearance, on
the 31st, of the Confederate gunboat Teazer, which came
down from Eichmond and threw several shells into the
oamps, and a grand review by General Keyes.
By the 2d of April, five divisions of the army, making,
with the artillery reserve, fifty-eight thousand men and one
hundred guns, had arrived ; and on the 4th, the grand ad-
vance up the Peninsula began.
The army moved in two columns, General Keyes's corps
on the left, with Smith's division in advance. The day was
clear and warm, and the roadsides were soon strewn with
discarded blankets and superfluous clothing. A march of ten
miles to the north brought the division to Young's Mill, and
1 About this time, the First U. S. Sharpshooters, under Lieut. Colonel
W. Y. W. Ripley, which led the advance of Porter's division, was engaged
with the Confederate outpost at Big Bethel. As that regiment comprised a
Vermont company, Vermonters were at the front of both columns.
246 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
in front of some apparently formidable earthworks crowning
the crest of a hill, the approach to which was in part barred
by a mill pond and obstructed by felled trees. The Vermont
brigade was ordered forward and moved upon and entered
the works, to find them tenantless, the only hostile force seen
being a cavalry picket, which exchanged shots with the
skirmishers by one of which a private of the Fifth Vermont
was wounded in the shoulder. An orderly sergeant of the
Second Virginia who had straggled from his regiment was
captured here by some men of the Third Vermont. The
enemy had been there in force the night previous, and his
camp fires were still burning. The brigade camped in and
about the earthworks and some extensive barracks near
it.1 Next morning it resumed the march in a violent thunder
storm. Warwick Court House, consisting of a dilapidated
brick court house and jail, a store and two dwellings, was
passed about noon. Three miles further brought the division
to a standstill, at the Warwick Kiver, at Lee's Mill — a name
memorable in the history of the campaign and of the brigade,
and sadly remembered by many a Vermont widow and
orphan. The advance of the division had here come upon
the enemy, and found him evidently disposed to dispute
the passage of the river. The stream showed a considerable
stretch of water, fringed with swamps, and beyond it were
formidable earthworks. The Confederate pickets, instead
of retreating as heretofore, now held their ground on the op-
posite shore and fired viciously at everything within and
beyond range ; hostile artillery opened with 12-pound shells
upon any body of troops that came in sight of them, and
wounded men began to be taken to the rear. A battery was
ordered forward and returned the fire ; and the division and
the corps stopped to consider. Meanwhile, Fitz John
1 "The enemy's works at Young's Mill are so strong that with 5,000
men he might have stopped my two divisions there a week."— General
Keyes's Report.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 247
Porter's division was in like manner brought to a stand in
front of Yorktown ; and the grand advance became a grand
halt of the army.
The barrier before McClellan's army was the Warwick
river, which rises within a mile of Yorktown and runs across
the Peninsula to the James, and a formidable line of redoubts-
and breastworks along its right, or western bank, which the
Confederate General Magruder had been for two months
industriously constructing, in part by the labor of 1,000 slaves^
The "Warwick road, over which General Keyes's column was-
marching up the Peninsula, crossed the river by a bridge at
Lee's Mill. Below that point the river was deep and wide
enough, and its borders sufficiently swampy, to be practically
impassable. Above Lee's Mill it ran for miles through
forests thickest on the eastern bank. It had been previously
dammed for water-power at Lee's Mill and at Wynn's Mill,
three miles above, and between these points Magruder had
built three additional dams, for military purposes. The
dams were guarded by redoubts, and the redoubts connected
by a double and in some places treble line of breastworks.
Magruder's force on the 5th of April was 11,000 men, of whom
6,000 were stationed at Yorktown and at Gloucester Point,
across the York river, leaving but 5,000 for manning the
eight or nine miles of works along the line of Warwick River.
The obstruction was undoubtedly a serious one ; but if Gen-
eral Keyes had at once, or within two or three days, made
a serious effort to push through the line, few can doubt
that he would have done it with comparative ease, and
that the result would have been the evacuation of Yorktown
and of the Peninsula by the enemy. But the Warwick Eiver
line was a wholly unexpected obstacle to the Union generals,
whose want of information concerning the defences of York-
town was as remarkable as their misconception of the strength
of their opponents. It disarranged McClellan's calculations,
and he characteristically preferred to wait, rather than to
248 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
strike.1 President Lincoln urged him, April 6th, to "break
the enemy's line at once ;" but General McClellan replied
that he was convinced that the great battle that was to
decide the existing contest was to be fought there, and that
he would commence the attack as soon as he could get up his
siege train, and have McDowell's corps for a flank movement
from York river. With an opponent of this temper, Magru-
der's bold front answered every purpose, and the Union army,
with five men on the ground for every man opposed to them,
sat down to wait for siege guns and reinforcements.
In the deployment of General Smith's division along the
Warwick River, the Vermont brigade was sent to the right
of the Warwick road through the woods and swamps. The
men slept on their arms that night, well to the front, and
those were fortunate who found a dry place to sit or lie on.
General Smith bivouacked at the foot of a pine tree, near the
line of his division. Some buildings near the fort in front,
across the river, took fire and burned brightly during a good
part of the night ; and there was little sleep in the ranks.
Before dawn the men could hear distinctly the reveille in the
enemy's camps; and some of the pickets could even dis-
tinguish the roll calls of the Confederate companies. During
the next day, Sunday, April 6th, the skirmishers were blaz-
ing away at each other, the Confederates in rifle pits and the
Federals in the edge of the woods, and occasional shots from
the Confederate artillery crashed through the tree tops over
the heads of the troops; but no Vermonters were hurt.
Fatigue duty, in corduroying roads over the spongy soil, in
which water was found anywhere at the depth of a foot or
two and on which it was well nigh impossible to move artil-
lery, now began and formed a good share of the work of the
army for weeks. On Monday the brigade, having been under
arms for two days and nights, was moved to the rear and
1 "To my utter surprise he (McCleilan) permitted day after day to
elapse without an assault." General Magruder, in his report.
' . YORK RIVER
mam
x. •yy>9&*fr'*la
'
WARWICK COURT HOUSE
- 'imciPw
,.. ,» asvf •';:-** f:-f, -*\,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 249
right to a position near the Garrow farm. Here they re-
mained encamped in the woods, with a few unimportant
changes of position, for a month, doing their share of picket
service * and fatigue duty in building roads and batteries, and
doing also the first serious fighting of the Peninsular cam-
paign on the Union side.
LEE'S MILL.
The engagement known as that of Lee's Mill, was a
notable one, as being the first assault on an entrenched line
made by the army of the Potomac, as an exhibition of re-
markable bravery in the troops engaged, and as one of the
bloodiest actions, in proportion to numbers engaged, in which
the Vermont troops took part during the war. It was also
one of the most useless wastes of life and most lamentable
of unimproved opportunities recorded in this history.
The scene of the action was the Garrow farm, about half
way between Lee's Mill and Wynn's Mill. Here an extensive
cleared field, bordered by woods on the right and left and
rear, opened to the river from the highway leading to York-
town. In the centre of this open ground stood the three
chimneys of Mrs. Garrow's house, which had been burned by
1 The pickets on the opposite sides of the river were at some points
within speaking distance of each other, keeping themselves sheltered by
stumps and trees, and sharp words as well as bullets often passed between
them. The author of "Three Years in the Sixth Corps," tells the follow-
ing incident of this time i "A good deal of hard talk had passed between
one of our pickets and one of the 'Johnnies.' Finally the rebel thrust
his hand beyond his tree, holding in it a bottle; and shaking it challenged
the Yankee to come and take it. Crack went the Yankee's rifle at the
hand. 'Ha, ha, why don't you hit it?' Say, what do you think of Bull
Bun ?' ' How do you like Fort Donelson ?' responded the Yankee. While
this colloquy was going on, a Yankee number two crept around behind a
log, and drawing OD the Southerner blazed away at him. The son of
chivalry clapped his hand to his shoulder and ran off howling. * There,
you fool,' shouted Yankee number one, « I told you that blind man would
be shooting you, pretty soon.' "
250 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
+- '
Magruder two weeks before, and the engagement is known
in some of the earlier accounts as that of " the Burned Chim-
neys." From a low ridge through the centre of the opening,
the ground descended by an easy slope to the sluggish stream
of Warwick River, running through low and marshy ground.
At this point Magruder had built one of his dams, styled in
the Confederate reports " Dam No. 1." It formed a narrow
causeway across the stream and morass, setting back the
water for a considerable distance, and was guarded by exten-
sive intrenchments. Below the dam and near the river's
edge, on the right bank, ran a line of deep rifle pits. At the
northern end of the dam was an earthwork, armed with a 24:
pound howitzer, described in General Smith's reports as
" the one gun battery." Two hundred yards to the rear of
this was a redoubt and epaulemsnt, with two guns, a twelve
and a six pounder, of the Troup artillery, attached to General
Howell Cobb's command. From the front of the redoubt to
the river the ground had been cleared ; but woods extended
behind and on each side of the works. During the week
preceding the 15th of April, large numbers of men were
seen strengthening the works, and building breastworks to
the right and left of them.
General McClellan did not like this ; and before daylight
on the morning of April 16th an order was despatched by
him to General Keyes, directing the latter to " stop the
enemy's working " at that point.1 General Keyes passed this
order along to General Smith, who made extensive disposi-
tions for the purpose. He decided to use some of his Vermont
troops to drive away the working parties, with Mott's (Third
New York) battery. Hancock's brigade, with Ayres's and
"Wheeler's batteries, he stationed along the road to Lee's
Mill ; and he held Davidson's brigade in reserve at " the
Four Corners " in the rear.
* l General Keyes's report.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 251
The Vermont regiments moved to the scene of action at
six o'clock in the morning, General Smith accompanying Gen-
eral Brooks and directing the dispositions of the troops. Gen-
eral Brooks sent forward the Third Vermont, Colonel Hyde,
through the woods on the lower side of the opening, and the
Fourth Vermont, Colonel Stoughton, through the woods on
the upper or eastern side, with orders to throw out skirmishers
to the water's edge below and above the dam, and open fire
on any working parties of the enemy in sight about their
works. Mott's battery was posted in the edge of the wooJs
along the road in the rear of the field, supported by the other
Vermont regiments, held in reserve a short distance farther
to the rear. The Fourth regiment was the first to get posi-
tion. It halted a few rods from the river in the woods,
and Companies B. and G. were deployed as skirmishers and
advanced to the swampy edge of the pond above the dam,
keeping themselves covered by the bushes. It was now
about half past seven o'clock, and guard-mounting was in
progress behind the works across the creek, to the tune of
" Kosa Lee." Colonel Stoughton accompanied the skirmish-
ers and opened the ball by taking a musket from a man and
firing it into the nearest embrasure. This action was followed
by his men, and the enemy returned the fire with artillery, the
first shell passing over the line of the Fourth, and striking a
pine tree under which Surgeon Child and Chaplain Plympton
were sitting, cutting off its top and covering them with frag-
ments of bark.
A section of Mott's battery at once went into the open
ground and replied vigorously. In the meantime the Third
had got into position on the left of the field. Having a
longer front to cover, six companies were deployed by
Colonel Hyde as skirmishers, and advanced to the edge of
the morass. The skirmishers, with such protection as they
could get from logs and stumps, opened fire briskly on the
enemy in the rifle pits across the creek, and received a sharp
252 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
return, by which several men of the Third were wounded.
During the hour which followed a sensible diminution of the
enemy's musketry fire was noticed ; but his artillery was still
actively served from the upper earthworks. A shell struck the
wheel of one of Mott's pieces, and exploding killed three of
the cannoneers and wounded more. About this time Colonel
Smalley of the Fifth regiment was ordered to send a detach-
ment, composed of the best marksmen in his command, to
the river front, whence the enemy's guns could be reached at
shorter range. For this duty ten of the best shots in each
company were selected, making, with the non-commissioned
officers who accompanied them, a company of 65 men.
Captain Dudley of Company E. was placed in command,
assisted by Lieutenant Spaulding, The detachment, de-
ployed at five paces, marched down through the open field,
having two men wounded by fragments of shells as they
started. After passing the chimneys they received a mus-
ketry volley from the rifle pits across the creek. Dropping
to the ground they crept on down the slope to the edge, and
securing shelter behind inequalities in the ground opened a
galling fire on the Confederate artillerymen, and on any of
the enemy who showed themselves above the rifle pits.
During the forenoon the 24-pounder near the end of the dam
was disabled by a shot from one of Mott's guns. The other
rebel guns were kept silent by the sharpshooters. The
enemy's musketry fire ceased with the exception of an oc-
casional scattering shot; and General Smith ordered the
firing on his side to cease.
The first stage of the action was over. The object indi-
cated by General McClellan had been accomplished for the
time being ; and the affair, unless a good deal more was to be
attempted, might well have ended there. But it was not so to
end. General Smith, sweeping the enemy's works with his
glass, discovered, as he thought, that the gun in the upper
angle of the main redoubt had been replaced by a wooden gun,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 253
and he could perceive hardly any heads above the parapets.
About the same time, eleven A. M., Lieutenant B. M. Noyes,1
aid-de-camp on General Brooks's staff, came to General
Brooks to say that he had been reconnoitring on his own
hook; had crossed the creek below the dam, finding the
water only about waist deep at the deepest ; and had been
unmolested within 25 or 50 yards of the enemy's works.
Furthermore, some wagons had been seen in the rear of his
works, a circumstance taken to indicate that he was remov-
ing his stores. Altogether it was not doubted that the Con-
federates were badly demoralized and preparing to vacate
their position.
Shortly before noon General McClellan appeared on the
ground with an imposing array of staff officers, among whom
were the two French princes, the CoiLte de Paris and Prince
de Joinville, and held a conference with General Smith.2
Lieutenant Noyes was sent for and reported his observations.
General McClellan thereupon directed General Smith to
occupy the opposing works, but by no means to bring on a
general engagement, and to withdraw his troops if serious
resistance was encountered. As to details, it was decided,
upon General Smith's suggestion, that he should place three
batteries in the open ground at the head of the slope to the
river, supported by the Yermont brigade in the woods on
each flank and by Hancock's brigade in the rear, and that
under the fire of the guns a small force should be thrown
across the river below the dam to feel of the enemy; and
that if the works were found empty or slightly defended, a
1 First Lieutenant, Co. C. , Third Vermont.
2 "I heard General Smith ask General McClellan what he had better
do— give up the job and go back to camp, or what ? General McClellan
answered in so low a voice that I did not hear his reply." — Statement of
Colonel Whiting.
254 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
strong column should be pushed across to effect a permanent
lodgment.1
In carrying out this plan Dudley's skirmishers were
withdrawn into the woods on the left, their withdrawal being
hastened by a sharp fire from the rebel rifle pits, which indi-
cated with sufficient distinctness that they were still manned.
Companies K. and E. of the Fourth relieved Companies B.
and G. on the skirmish line above the dam. A skirmish line
of men of the Third, under command of Major Seaver, was
maintained in the edge of the woods on the river bank below
the clearing. The Second regiment was sent into the woods
on the right, in the rear of the Fourth, and the Fifth and
Sixth regiments were stationed in the woods on the left and
rear. Colonel Hyde was directed to send two companies
of the Third regiment, to be supported by two more com-
panies, across the river, to assault and drive the enemy
out of the nearest rifle pits. If they succeeded in carrying
these, they were to announce the fact by cheers and waving
a white handkerchief, when more troops were to be sent to
support them, and to attack the earthworks beyond. Colonel
Hyde took for the attack the four companies, D., F., E. and
K., not on duty on the skirmish line, and gave the company
commanders their instructions in the presence of General
Brooks. Company D., Captain Harrington, and F., Cap-
tain Pingree, were to lead, and were formed in line near
the river bank. The men were ordered to unclasp their waist
belts and hold their cartridge boxes out of the water with one
hand, and their rifles with the other. All understood that it
was a doubtful, if not desperate undertaking that was before
1 General McClellan returned to his headquarters to telegraph to Wash-
ington, that General Smith had "handsomely silenced the fire of the so-
called one-gun battery, and forced the enemy to suspend work." To which
Secretary Stan ton replied : " Good for the first lick. Hurrah for Smith and
the one-gun battery ! Let us have Yorktown with Magruder and his gang,
before the 1st of May, and the job will be over." But the " job " did not
prove to be over.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 255
them ; but the duty and its possible consequences were ac-
cepted with the stern resolution of brave men, determined to
improve to the utmost the first opportunity that had been
offered to them to show whether or no the men of the North
could stand fire.
About three o'clock, the guns of Mott's, Wheeler's and
Kennedy's batteries opened a vigorous cannonade from the
crest of the slope. The enemy's artillery responded, but his
fire soon slackened under the storm of shot and shell, and
the moment arrived for the infantry to advance. Harring-
ton, who was the ranking captain, having announced to
Captain Pingree that a physical infirmity from which he was
suffering would not permit him to cross the river, Pingree
promptly gave the order "Forward!" and led the way. The
men pushed across the stream in good shape, though they
were under sharp musketry fire from the start and though
the bottom was in many places covered with a network of
felled trees, over which many tripped and fell, wetting both
guns and ammunition. Floundering along in spite of all
obstacles, however, the two companies reached the opposite
bank, and dashed straight for the rifle pits, driving out of them
a force about equal in number to their own.1 The Confed-
erates beat a hasty retreat to their works beyond, and the
Yernionters, cheering loudly, started after them for the next
parallel; but they were ordered back by Captain Pingree,
whose orders were to occupy the rifle pits and wait there for
reinforcements. They accordingly fell back behind the scarp
of the captured breastwork; and were soon joined by Com-
panies E. and K., which had followed them at a short
interval.
Corporal Hutchinson of Company D., who had been
selected to signal the occupancy of the work, by waving a
handkerchief attached to his bayonet, had fallen, mortally
1 The rifle pits were occupied at the time by a picket, guard of the Fif-
teenth North Carolina, and a company^Co. D.) of the Sixteenth Georgia.
256 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
wounded; but the men shouted lustily back across the
stream, handkerchiefs were waved by several hands, and
officers and men looked with anxiety for the promised sup-
ports. Their situation was a precarious one. The enemy
was visibly rallying, and with no lack of troops. His first
counter-attack was made by the Fifteenth North Carolina,
which came down on the double quick from its camp over
the crest, and charged the rifle pits. It was met by the
men of the Third with a fire by which its commander, Colonel
McKinney, was killed, and some forty of his men killed and
wounded, and retired in extreme disorder. General Cobb
states that this " confusion " extended down the line of two
Georgia regiments which had advanced on the right of the
Fifteenth North Carolina; and had the rest of the Vermont
brigade now been promptly thrown across the river a per-
manent occupation of the enemy's works would probably
have been effected. The rest of Smith's division could then
have crossed without opposition, and the line of "Warwick
River would have been pierced. But no supports followed
the detachment of the Third Vermont. It held its position
along the breastwork for about half an hour, keeping down
by a well directed fire the fire from the works on the right
and front, and at one time, by a gallant dash from the left of
the line, made by a few men under Lieutenant Buck of Com-
pany D., once more scattering their assailants.1
Meanwhile the enemy, whose troops had been under
arms all day for miles along the western side of the river,
gathered in heavy force. By the exertions of General Howell
1 In a letter written at the time, describing this action, Lieutenant Buck
said: " We were bound to die rather than retreat without orders. Some-
thing desperate had got to be done. A charge was our only show, and
charge we did. We jumped the works and gave a loud yelL The rebels
supposed a brigade was charging them and ran like sheep. But when
they saw it was only a ruse, they rallied. I saw whole regiments
marching against us, and we retreated, never expecting to recross the
fatal stream."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 257
Cobb and Colonel Anderson,1 the demoralized regiments of
their commands were rallied and others brought up, till no
less than seven regiments 2 hemmed in the little band of Yer-
monters. Musketry and artillery now re-opened heavily on
Pingree at short range from the works on his right and front,
and two Confederate regiments came down on his left and
opened a far more fatal tire, from which the scarp of the rifle
pits afforded no protection. Captain Pingree sent back two
successive messengers to Colonel Hyde, asking either for
reinforcements or for permission to retire ; but neither came.
Later in the service, under similar circumstances, he would
have exercised the discretion which such a desperate strait
confers on a commander, and have withdrawn his detach-
ment ; but now he and his men only knew that their orders
were to occupy the works and wait for reinforcements ; and
they waited, though officers and men were dropping by
scores. Captain Pingree was wounded in the haunch by a
musket ball early in the fight ; but, though bleeding freely,
he remained at his post. Soon after Lieutenant Chandler
of company F. was struck by a ball which cut off three of
the bones of his hand, and then passed through his thigh.
Fifteen minutes later, Captain Pingree received a second
wound from a ball which took off the entire thumb, with
the metacarpal bone, of his right hand. He was urged by
officers and men to retire while retreat was possible ; but he
refused to go till at last a messenger returned with the
welcome direction from Colonel Hyde to withdraw — when
he gave the order to fall back, and, himself too faint .to
walk alone, allowed his men to help him back across the
1 Colonel G. T. Anderson of Georgia, whose brigade subsequently, to
its sorrow, met the Vermont brigade at Funkstown, Md.
2 These were the Fifteenth North Carolina, Seventh Georgia, Eighth
Georgia, Eleventh Georgia, Cobb's (Georgia) Legion, Sixteenth Georgia,
and Secotid Louisiana. — Confederate Reports.
17
258 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
stream.1 The rattle of musketry and roar of artillery was too
continuous at this time to permit orders to be heard for
any distance ; but those who did not hear saw that a retreat
was ordered, and in five minutes the line had scattered back
across the creek, through a shower of musket balls which
made the water boil as in a hailstorm. Of the 192 brave
men who crossed the stream, about 100 came back unharmed,
bearing with them as many as they could of their wounded
comrades.2 General Magruder states that the four companies
of Yermonters were driven out of the rifle pits at the point of
the bayonet by four Confederate regiments ;3 but the men of
the Third saw no hostile bayonets, nor were the rifle pits re-
occupied for some little time after they left them. They
were driven out by musketry fire from the front and flank.
They had made as gallant a dash as was ever attempted ; had
fairly carried a line of rifle pits ; had dispersed with serious
loss a Confederate regiment, 500 strong ; 4 and had held
their position in front of two Confederate brigades for forty
minutes, and till they were ordered back. More could not
have been asked of or done by mortal men.
1 The remarkable fact that Pingree received no mention in the official
reports, and the almost fatal result of his injuries, have been heretofore
mentioned, in the regimental history of the Third regiment.
2 Surgeon E. E. Phelps, in his report to Governor Holbrook, said:
"The usual percentage of loss in battle is one in every 40; but in this
action, out of 198 men engaged three in every four were killed or
wounded." This was putting it rather strong. Co. F., which suffered
worst, had 27 killed and wounded out of 52 engaged; and the loss of the
detachment was 45 per cent— a sufficiently sad proportion.
3 "At this moment the Seventh and Eighth Georgia, under Colonels
Wilson and Lamar ; the left wing of the Sixteenth Georgia under Colonel
Goode Bryan, and two companies of the Second Louisiana under Colonel
J. T. Norwood, accompanied by the Fifteenth North Carolina, with fixed
bayonets charged the rifle pits and drove the enemy from them with great
slaughter."— Report of General J. B. Magruder.
4 "The regiment [Fifteenth North Carolina] had about 500 men en-
gaged."— Report of Lieutenant Colonel Ihrie, Fifteenth North Carolina.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 259
The affair again might well have ended here. The recon-
noissance had been made and had shown that the enemy had
two or three lines of works and plenty of men to defend
them. The river was now a greater obstacle than before ;
for by the closing of dams below or opening sluices above,
the depth of water had been increased so that the men who
returned found the water considerably deeper than when they
went over. The firing, which had now been going on, at
times with great severity, for about nine hours, had of course
fully aroused the enemy, and there was every reason to sup-
pose that he would be massing troops to oppose any further
demonstration. Such was the fact. Within half an hour
after the repulse of Pingree's battalion, the three Confederate
brigades of Cobb, Anderson and Toombs were in position
behind the screen of woods beyond the river, and General
McLaws had his entire division under arms within support-
ing distance. Yet at five o'clock the attack was renewed.
General Smith speaks of it as another " reconnoissance ;" but
it was really a fresh attempt to effect a lodgment on the right
bank of the Warwick. That the Union generals should
have been unwilling to give the matter up so, is not surpris-
ing ; but that they should have still sent companies against
regiments, and battalions against brigades, is astonishing.
In the new dispositions, a section of a battery was placed in
the right of the open field, where it could enfilade the rifle
pits on the other bank, which ran at an angle with the shore,
and a general cannonade was opened by General McClellan's
orders all along the front from Lee's Mill to Yorktown, to
distract the attention of the enemy. Colonel Stoughton of
the Fourth was then ordered to send four companies across
the dam to storm the one-gun battery, and Colonel Lord to
throw four companies of the Sixth across below the dam,
where the Third had crossed, and again assault the rifle pits.
Colonel Stoughton selected Companies A., Captain Pratt ;
F., Captain Brown ; L, Lieutenant Lillie ; and C., Captain
260 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Atherton, for his storming party and formed them in the
edge of the woods. He also strengthened his skirmish line
along the edge of the swamp by two companies, and ordered
the skirmishers to keep up an incessant fire on the works
opposite ; and when the seventeen guns of Mott's, Wheeler's
and Kennedy's batteries again opened from the crest, the
detachment fixed bayonets and started for the dam, led by
Colonel Stoughton. But a tremendous outburst of artillery
and musketry from the earthworks opposite, which met them
as soon as they came out into the open ground and under
which men began to fall rapidly, warned General Smith that
the effort was madness. He despatched Lieutenant Bowen
of his staff to order Stoughton to withdraw the battalion, and
it retired, left in front, in good order, with a loss of two men
killed and twelve wounded, among the latter being Captain
Atherton, who received a ball in the groin which occasioned
his retirement from the service. Colonel Stoughton and
Lieutenant Bowen brought up the rear, carrying between
them a wounded man, and all the wounded were brought
back to the woods.
The movement of the Sixth was more persistent and in-
volved more serious loss. The regiment moved at double
quick down through the open field into the timber on the
left, at the head of the slope to the river. Here the duty of
charging the rifle pits was committed by Colonel Lord to the
right wing of his regiment, and he accompanied it to the river
bank. The battalion, led by Company A., Captain George
Parker, marched down by the flank through the swampy
borders of the stream, coming under a sharp fire of mus-
ketry as soon as it appeared in the open ; and pushed across
the overflowed bottom land, and through the channel of the
river, the men holding their cartridge boxes and rifles above
their heads. As they reached the opposite shore the leading
companies fronted into line, within twenty yards of the rifle
pits. The fire from them was incessant ; but the Confederates
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 261
kept themselves so well covered and held their guns at so
high an angle, that their shots for the most part passed over
the heads of the men of the Sixth, or few would have returned
to tell the tale of their charge. As it was, officers and men
were dropping fast, Captain Reynolds of Company F. fell,
shot through the body, as he was bringing his company into
line in the shallow water in front of the breastwork. Cap-
tain Davenport of Company H. was disabled by a ball
through the thigh. Lieutenant Bailey of Company D., re-
ceived a fatal wound. Lieutenant Kinney, commanding Com-
pany I., was seriously wounded. Three of the five company,
commanders and some 40 men had fallen ; but the rest
pressed on. A few had reached the opposing breastwork,
when the order to fall back came. Colonel Lord, perceiving
that the advance of the Fourth had failed and that it was
annihilation for his men to advance or remain under the
tremendous cross-fire now concentrated on them, gave the
order to retreat. It was obeyed with a deliberation which
enabled the survivors to bring off their wounded comrades,
and rescue the colors of the regiment, which had fallen from
the hand of the fainting color-bearer. The return was as
dangerous as the advance ; and before the battalion reached
cover on the left bank, it had suffered a loss of 23 men killed
or mortally wounded and 57 others more or less severely
wounded. It was now near nightfall. The enemy, content
with the repulse of the troops which had been dashed by
handsful against his works, and deterred by the fire of the
batteries which were still booming from the Garrow clearing,
made no counter demonstration, and the affair of Lee's Mill
was over.
General Smith says in his report: "Among the four
companies of skirmishers of the Third Vermont who crossed
the creek, there were more individual acts of heroism per-
formed than I ever read of in a great battle." Such acts were
not confined to any one regiment. A few of them may be re-
262 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
counted here. Among the men of the Third who charged
the rifle pits was William Scott, the young man who was
sentenced to death for sleeping on his post soon after the
regiment went out, and was pardoned by the President. Scott
pressed forward where the balls were flying thickest and fell
with several mortal wounds. His comrades raised him up,
and heard him with his dying breath amid the shouting and
din of the fight, lift a prayer for God's blessing on President
Lincoln, who had given him a chance to show that he was no
coward or sneak, and not afraid to die.1 There were not
many more touching incidents than this, in the war.
Corporal Hutchinson, to whom Colonel Hyde had handed
his handkerchief to be waved as a signal when the rifle pits
were gained, fell mortally wounded half way across the river,
the ball that killed him passing through the handkerchief.
Ilis thoughts were solely .on his duty, and exclaiming sadly :
"I cannot wave the flag after all," he handed the bloody
handkerchief to a comrade, to do it for him.
A man of the Third stood in the farther edge of the
water with a broken thigh, leaning on his gun, and distribut-
ing his ammunition, which he had kept dry, to those whose
cartridges had got wet in crossing. The wounded men who
were able to heJp themselves, almost invariably declined
help in retiring, and brought back their rifles with them.
Corporal James Fletcher of Company E., of the Third,
was on the sick list with a fever, but insisted on going out
1 Scott was buried in a little grove of holly and wild cherry trees on the
Garrow Farm, in a spot where some Revolutionary soldier, who fell in the
siege of Yorktown nearly 80 years before, had found burial, as shown by
buttons and a belt clasp thrown up in digging Scott's* grave. The chaplain
prayed earnestly for the President, and on the calm face of the dead his
comrades thought they saw a look of satisfaction and peace, which would
have richly rewarded the kind heart of Abraham Lincoln if he could have
seen it, for his act of mercy. The incident was made known to Mr.
Lincoln, and in an interview with Adjutant General P. T. Washburn sub-
sequently, Mr. Lincoln alluded to it with emotion, speaking also in terms
of high praise of the bravery shown by the Vennonters at Lee's Mill.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 263
with his company, went through the fight, went back into the
creek, after recrossing it, to rescue some of the wounded men,
and then went into hospital "to resume his fever with aggra-
vation," in the words of an army letter.
Julian A. Scott, the drummer boy of the same com-
pany,1 a lad of 16, went twice across the creek to rescue
wounded men. Aided by Ephraim Brown he was carrying:
Private John Backum, who was shot through the lungs, away
from the scarp of the rifle pits when Brown was disabled by
a shot through the thigh. Young Scott carried Backum
across the river on his back, and returning helped Brown
over, each of them being men larger than himself. Eight
bullets passed through the clothing of Captain Bennett of
Company K, of the Third, without making a scratch on his
skin. Lieutenant Whittemore of Company E., took a gun
from a disabled soldier and did some effective shooting in
the rifle pits. Captain D. B. Davenport of Company H., of
the Sixth, was wounded. His son Henry, drummer boy, a
youngster of but 11 years, helped his father out of the
water and to a place of safety, and returning to the stream
to get some water for him, had the filled cup knocked out of
his hand by a bullet. Sergeant B. G. Bellows bore the colors
of the Sixth regiment nearly to the rifle pits. The order
to fall back had come and had been obeyed by the rest of
the color guard, when he received a fatal wound.2 As the
colors fell from his fainting grasp into the water, they caught
the eye of Sergeant Edward A. Holton. Shouting to some
men of his company who were near him to rally on the
'Subsequently an artist of some name, and the painter of the large
picture of the battle of Cedar Creek in the Vermont State House.
2 The case of Sergeant Bellows was one of those not uncommon ones,
in which almost bloodless injuries proved fatal. The ball struck him
in the knee, carrying into the joint the cloth of his pantaloons without
passing through the fabric. He died of this wound in hospital at Burling-
ton, a month after. He was one of the finest-looking men in the regiment,
and as brave as he was handsome.
264 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
colors, Holton ran back, rescued the flag, and carried it safely
back across the stream, while others of the men bore the
color-bearer back to the southern bank. Holton's act was
noticed in a general order, and won him a commission.
The loss of the brigade at Lee's Mill was as follows :
KILLED.
WOUNDED.
DIED OF WOUNDS,
Second Regiment,
1
1
1
Third
26
63
9
Fourth "
2
10
1
Fifth "
2
7
0
Sixth "
13
67
10
Total, 44 148 21
Of the wounded seven fell into the hands of the enemy.
General Magruder, in his report, states that his loss " did
not exceed 75 killed and wounded." His troops fought
almost entirely under cover, and their loss may not have
largely exceeded that figure.1
The conduct of this engagement on the Union side was
a mystery to the troops engaged in it, at the time, as it has
been to many students of the war. The Comte de Paris says,
that the generals who organized the demonstration, failed
to agree beforehand on the importance it was to assume.
But as regards the course of the general of the army there
is no mystery. General McClellan had selected Yorktown
(where the Confederate works were strongest) as the point
of main attack. He had in his mind a grand scientific siege
operation, which should rival some of the scenes in the
Crimean war, to observe which he was sent abroad by Jeffer-
son Davis when the latter was secretary of war. He was
digging parallels and building earthworks, and intended, when
he got ready, to overwhelm the Confederate forts by a grand
feu d'enfer, a la Sebastopol, from his 100 and 200 pounders,
*A nominal list attached to the report of Lieut. Colonel Ihrie,
Fifteenth North Carolina, shows 12 killed and 31 wounded of that regi-
ment.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 265
which had been dragged with infinite labor from City Point.
It was not his plan to pierce the "Warwick line and turn
Yorktown, and he did not wish or expect to do more at Lee's
Mill than to occupy some works from which it was supposed
the enemy had been driven. " The moment," says General
Smith, "I found resistance serious and the numbers opposed
great, I acted in obedience to the warning instructions of the
general-in-chief, and withdrew the small numbers of troops
exposed from under fire."
General McClellan, after it was over, affected to consider
the information gained worth more than it cost. That it was
so may well be doubted ; yet it is certain that the daring
shown by the Yermonters was not without value to the army l
or without effect on the enemy. Colonel Levy, of the Second
Louisiana, who came to the Union lines with a flag of truce
on an errand relating to the burial of the Union dead, two
days after, asked what regiment it was that first assaulted
the rifle pits. He was told that it was a detachment of the
Third Vermont. "It was lucky for us," he replied, "that
you did not send over many such detachments."
Among the various explanations imagined and suggested
at the time, for the failure to push over supports to the Ver-
mont troops after they had effected a lodgment across the
river, was one, which gained wide currency, to the effect that
General Smith was drunk. A report that he was too much
intoxicated to ride his horse during the engagement was
made the subject of a resolution offered in Congress, and of a
court of inquiry thereupon called for by General Smith. It
was contradicted by a statement, addressed to the Vermont
delegation in Congress and signed by most of the field officers
of the Vermont brigade, including all the colonels, in which
they pronounced the report "unequivocally false." The
1 The army correspondents generally agreed with the correspondent of
the New York World that " the fighting and the bravery of the Vermont
boys covered the arms of their State with glory."
266 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
court of inquiry was dismissed by General McClellan after
the first day, on the ground that the evidence offered was
sufficient to exonerate General Smith without further pro-
ceedings. The military committee of the U. S. Senate visited
the camps near Lee's Mill, to investigate the matter, and re-
ported the charge against General Smith to be without
foundation ; and the matter passed from the public mind.
During the night of the 16th of April and nights follow-
ing, strong earthworks to shelter the Union batteries were
thrown up on the Garrow farm, in part by the work of the Ver-
mont troops ; but beyond occasional artillery firing by night
and day, and frequent exchange of shots across the creek by
the skirmishers and sharp shooters on the two sides, no
further hostilities followed at that point. Had Magruder had
more men there would probably have been some fighting on
the south side of Warwick River.1
On Saturday, the 19th, a flag of truce was hoisted by the
Confederates, and Colonel Levy of the Second Louisiana,
met Captain Currie of General Smith's staff on the dam, with
a proposal to arrange for the removal of the "Union dead,
which was gladly accepted, and the Confederates soon
brought over 29 dead bodies, blackened by decay and de-
spoiled of shoes, buttons and valuables.9 The remainder
of the dead Vermonters they said, had been buried with their
own, by mistake, in the night. The bodies received were
buried among the pines on the Garrow farm.
During the four days after the 16th, the seriously wounded
1 "All the reinforcements which were on the way to me had not yet
joined me, so that I was unable to follow up the action of April 16th by
any decisive step."— General Magruder's report.
2 " I recovered to-day the bodies of our men killed on the 16th— 29 in
number. The enemy have four wounded in their hands, whom 1 will
endeavor to recover to-morrow by offering four well men in exchange.
The officer bearing the flag acknowledged a severe loss on their part, and
spoke in high terms of the conduct of our men."— McClellan to Secretary
Stanton, April 19, 1862.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 267
Vermonters were taken in ambulances to Cheeseman's
Landing and Ship Point on the York River, and thence
by boats to Fortress Monroe. Their condition aroused re-
markable concern on the part of both the National and State
authorities. Secretary Stanton telegraphed Governor Hoi-
brook that they would be sent home if suitable hospital
accommodations could be provided for them in Vermont.
The only hospital building in the State at that time, was the
U. S. Marine hospital at Burlington, built by the Government
in President Pierce's administration, which had stood empty
since it was erected. Adj't General Washburn went to
Washington and arranged to have this building turned over
to the State for an army hospital, and to have the wounded
Yermonters sent thither. General Washburn and Quarter-
master General Davis thereupon went to Fortress Monroe,
and brought thence 115 wounded men to New York. They
were met there by ex- Adj't General Baxter and Colonels S. M.
Waite and B. B. Smalley of the governor's staff, and a corps
of five surgeons, and, with the exception of twelve who were
left in hospital at New York, too dangerously hurt to bear
further transportation, were brought with the tenderest care
to Yermont. Twenty-four were taken to Brattleboro and the
rest to Burlington, where under the skillful care of Dr. S. W.
Thayer, who had been appointed hospital surgeon, most of
them rapidly gained strength and health. This arrangement
was expanded into a general one, under which many wounded
and sick Yermonters were taken to Yermont; and, under
the superior professional treatment they received, and in the
good air of their native State, a remarkably high ratio of
recoveries was established; but though this arrangement
worked well in Yermont, it was found to occasion some
friction when adopted, as it was subsequently, by some other
States, and it was rescinded by the government.
Frequent night alarms which called the regiments into
line ; constant sharp shooting on the picket line ; plenty of
268 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
fatigue duty on the breastworks ; and two reconnoissances,
in one of which the Second lost three men killed, and in the
other Lieutenant Nevins of the Sixth received a wound from
which he died, were the chief events and occupations of the
last two weeks of April.
A general cannonade from the enemy's works on the
night of the 3d of May, called the brigade and the army to
arms, in anticipation of an attack. The shells flew thickly
over and into the camps ; but no serious damage was done
and no attack was received. The morning disclosed the
meaning of the proceeding. General McClellan having almost
made ready to open his siege batteries, the enemy was quite
ready to leave the line of the Warwick. Having secured a
month of most valuable time, during which the defences of
Richmond were vastly strengthened and the first conscription
act, which heavily increased the military strength of the
Confederacy, was passed, General Johnston once more sur-
prised the Union generals by a sudden and successful retreat.
Two contrabands brought the first word of it, at daylight on
the 4th, into the Union lines. The Fifth Vermont was at
once sent across the dam, to occupy the abandoned works ;
and at eight o'clock the brigade, in place of the usual Sunday
morning inspections, was in motion to the front, with two
day's rations in the haversacks. Smith's division crossed
on the dam and pushed forward by the road from Lee's Mill
to Williamsburg, while Hooker's division marched on the
right by the nearly parallel road from Yorktown to the same
point. Hancock led the column of Smith's division and
Brook's Vermont brigade marched next. The two columns
rather curiously changed roads during the day. Though
Hooker had the shorter road, Smith moved fastest. About
noon Hancock's advance was stopped by the burning of a
bridge over a branch of Skiff Creek, across which his road lay.
Having halted, General Hancock sent forward four companies
of the Second Vermont, under Lieut. Colonel Stannard, which
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 269
extinguished the fire.1 But the bridge was not passable for
artillery, and the division, by order of General Sumner, com-
manding both columns, crossed through the intervening fields
to the road on the right. Smith reached this road before
Hooker had come up, and, keeping on, obliged the latter to
halt, while he (Smith) filed into the road in advance of him.
The Yermonters were now leading, and gave a specimen of
the marching quality by which they came to be distinguished
in after days. The column was to halt near the Halfway
House, but the head of it had passed that point some three
miles, when General Keyes, who was following Smith with
his two other divisions, learned the fact. Calling an orderly
he said : " If your horse has bottom enough to catch ur>
with that Vermont brigade, I want you to overtake them and
order a halt. Tell them we are not going to Bichrnond to-
day."
Hooker followed Smith for two or three miles and then,
impatient at having to follow where he expected to lead, he
obtained permission to cross to the left road and went for-
ward by that. Smith's advance overtook the cavalry who
were pressing the enemy's rear, and sunset found his division
halted in front of the line of redoubts 2 southeast of Wil-
liamsburg, which had been built for a defensive line by
Magruder some months before. The rear guard of Johnston's
1 " Finding the enemy had fired a bridge on Skiff Creek, on the direct
road to Williamsburg, I sent first a party of cavalry to extinguish the fire if
possible. They were fired upon by the enemy and retired after exchanging
shots. I then ordered four companies of the Second Vermont, under Lieut.
Colonel Stannard, to the burning bridge, and to extinguish the flames, which
duty they performed, first driving the enemy away, and saving the sleepers
of the bridge." — Report of General HancocK.
The other six companies of the Second, under Colonel Whiting, had
been detached from the brigade in the forenoon, to reconnoitre along a
road leading to the left, and did not rejoin the brigade till the next morning.
8 There were ten of these, with four epaulements and other minor works,
extending across the Peninsula, here contracted to a width of about five
miles.
270 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
army occupied some of these, while the main body kept on
to Richmond. In front of two of these redoubts, command-
ing the approach to Williamsburg by the Yorktown road,
General Smith, under the orders of General Sumner, formed
his command for an assault, with Hancock's brigade de-
ployed in front and the Vermont brigade in double column
for support. But the lateness of the hour and the character
of the ground, which was covered with a tangled undergrowth
between the trees, made an advance well nigh impossible,
and the troops bivouacked where they stood. Hooker
marched till eleven o'clock, and then halted for the night,
half a mile from the enemy's line. The night was rainy, and
sleep contended with serious discomforts and anxieties for
possession of the weary soldiers.
WILLIAMSBURG.
Next day, May 5th, the planless and unsatisfactory battle
of Williamsburg was fought. It opened in front of Fort
Magruder — the strongest of the Confederate works — on the
left, where General Hooker, without specific orders and
without concert with the other generals, attacked at seven in
the morning. He silenced Fort Magruder, but soon found
himself on the defensive. Johnston, fairly overhauled and
in danger of losing his trains, had turned to fight. He sent
back Longstreet to help his rear guard, and by nine o'clock
Longstreet's division was pressing in masses on Hooker's
line. It became very warm for Hooker ; but he fought till
noon without the reinforcements which he had called for,
and without any effective diversion in any other part of the
field.1
General Smith had expected to attack the works before
1 ' ' The fact is that when Hooker began his attack, Sumner, Heintzle-
man and Keyes had adopted another plan of action, irrespective of
Hooker. There was no concerted movement."— General A. S. Webb.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 271
him at daylight and had his division in line as soon as it
was light enough to move ; but he was held back by General
Sumner, and the occupation of the division during the fore-
noon, was to stand in the rain, which poured heavily, and
listen to the battle which Hooker was fighting hardly half a
mile away. Yet all of the Yermonters were not idle ; and
an important bit of service performed by some of them led
to Hancock's movement on the right, which proved the de-
cisive movement of the battle. General Smith in the morn-
ing had sent Captain Stewart of the U. S. Engineers, to
reconnoitre the works in front of his position. Stewart found
them protected by a ravine and offering no practicable point
of attack ; but he learned from a colored man that two miles
to the right there was a road, crossing by a dam ' the stream
which flowed through the ravine, and leading to the rear of
the redoubts. He reported this to General Smith, who sent
Captain Currie of his staff with four companies of the Fourth
Vermont to verify the information. At half past ten o'clock
Captain Currie returned and reported that they had not
only found a practicable crossing for artillery ; but that a re-
doubt on the other side, built to command the crossing, was
to all appearance unoccupied. Smith sent Currie to report
these facts to General Sumner, who could hardly believe the
latter circumstance ; but decided to take advantage of it.
By his order General Smith sent Hancock, who held the
right of his division, to occupy the undefended works and
advance from them if he thought prudent. Hancock started
at once with three regiments of his own brigade and two of
Davidson's, Wheeler's battery and a company of cavalry ;
crossed the dam ; and at noon had reached and occupied, un-
molested, not only the work nearest the dam but a stronger
redoubt half a mile in advance of it,2 from which open ground
1 Known as "Cub Dam."
3 Mr. Swinton, the historian, says that General Johnston informed him
after the close of the war, that neither he or any of the generals with him
272 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
extended to the redoubt in front of Smith's position. Hancock
had in fact turned the flank of the enemy's line, and had
a fine position from which to attack the two redoubts between
him and Fort Magruder. Sending to General Smith for a
brigade to protect his rear, he prepared to assault these
redoubts, which were occupied in force by the enemy.
In the meantime, General Smith had been directed by
General Sumner to send one of his brigades to the assistance
of General Hooker on the left, and had ordered the Yermont
brigade forward for the purpose; but receiving Hancock's
report of the state of things on the right, and deeming that
an attack upon the enemy's left would be the most effectual
means of helping Hooker, General Smith procured a change
of the order and permission to take his two remaining
brigades to reinforce Hancock. He had drawn them out
into the road and was just starting with them, when General
Sumner, becoming apprehensive for his centre, reversed the
order, and called Smith back into line to resist an appre-
hended attack on the ground he then occupied. From their
position in the edge of the woods, some of the Vermonters
could see the operations to their right and front across the
ravine. They saw Hancock's skirmishers, aided by a few-
shells from Wheeler's battery, drive the enemy from the re-
doubt nearest him, which, however, he hesitated to occupy
till his supports should arrive. They saw, too, that Hancock
was in some danger. General Johnston, alarmed at finding a
formidable force on his flank, had sent thither Generals Early
and D. H. Hill, with two brigades. These could be plainly
seen reoccupying the works in front of Hancock, and then
deploying for an assault on his position. Some of the enemy
were aware of the existence of these redoubts on his extreme left, till after
Hancock had occupied them. Replying in 1885 to a similar statement
made by Jefferson Davis in his ''Rise and Fall of the Confederacy,"
General Johnston says that "the positions of the redoubts, were all
known;" but that "a rear guard distributed in all of them, could have held
none of them."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 273
were massed so near Smith that four guns of Mott's battery
were ordered forward, and opened fire on them with obvious
effect. Again and again General Smith asked permission to
go to Hancock's aid. Twice General Brooks was directed to
take his brigade to support Hancock, and once the brigade
reached Cub Dam on the way thither, only to be ordered back.
General Brooks swore vigorously at being sent back from
the right where they were most wanted to the centre where
they were not needed at all ; but had no option but to obey.
Sumner finally not only refused to permit Smith to send any
more troops to the right, but ordered Hancock back to his
" first position." The latter chose to understand this to mean
the works he had first occupied across the dam. He took
his time about retiring, and turned before he had gone far,
to await Early's attack. This was made while the Vermont
brigade was marching back from Cub Dam, and made unwel-
come music in the ears of the Vermonters, who were burning
for a chance to avenge Lee's Mill. Early threw forward
four regiments, numbering about 2,000 men, against Hancock
who had 1,500 in line on the crest. The latter waited till
Early's lines were within short range, and then received them
with a savage fire, under which they recoiled in confusion,
leaving a row of dead and dying men which marked the limit
of their advance. Early was wounded, and his repulse was
completed by a charge in which a Confederate colonel and
150 of his men were taken prisoners. Hill endeavored to
support Early ; but his men would not face the fire from the
crest, and the whole force fell back, having lost 500 men.
As Hill's regiments were forming for the second attack,
General Hancock, not knowing how serious it might prove,
despatched Captain Currie, who had remained with him, to
hurry up the reinforcements he had been waiting for. Currie
overtook the rear of Brooks's brigade, marching back instead
of forward. The Third Yermont was at the rear of the
column, and Colonel Hyde, at Currie's request, faced his
18
274 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
regiment about and took it back to help Hancock, while
Currie dashed on to find General Smith and get more rein-
forcements. The cheering from the front told the men of the
Third that something had happened there and they hurried
up, at double quick, to find that Hancock had repulsed his
assailants, and that the enemy in front of him had retired
to the cover of the woods.
It was now six o'clock. Meantime Kearney's division of
the Third corps had relieved Hooker on the left. General
McClellan had arrived on the field, and General Smith by
his order joined Hancock with most of his division. There
was no more fighting, however. After nightfall Johnston
withdrew and continued his retreat to Richmond.
In this battle of Williamsburg, Hooker and Kearney lost
2,200 men, killed, wounded and missing, and five guns, while
Longstreet reported his loss at 1,560 killed, wounded and
captured. Had Sumner permitted Smith to take his division,
or even to send the Yermont brigade, to the support of Han-
cock, the latter would have moved up to the Confederate
centre, taken Fort Magruder in the reverse, and changed
the preponderance of loss heavily to the other side.
Though the shells from a Confederate battery, replying
to Mott's guns, flew over and around the lines of the Vermont
brigade in the afternoon, it sustained no loss. The Yermont
troops, with the exception of the Third regiment, which was
with Hancock, remained in their lines on the centre that night
drenched with rain and without fires. Next morning the sun
rose clear and bright ; the rain and the rebels had gone ; and
the brigade, in pursuance of orders received the night
before, marched round to the scene of Hancock's fight, pass-
ing on the way one of the forts he had taken, now filled
with Confederate prisoners, many of them wounded. The
Yermont surgeons busied themselves in the care of these,
and performed most, of the amputations required, as the
Confederate surgeons sent back to care for their men were
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 275
comparatively inexperienced practitioners. The Yermont
boys built fires for their foes, dried their clothes, covered them
with U. S. blankets, and would have shared rations with
them if they had had any.
The battle of Williamsburg was fought on Monday. How
tardily the pursuit of the enemy was conducted by Mc-
Clellan, is matter of history. It was not till Friday that
Smith's division started on up the Peninsula. The Yermont
brigade marched 14 miles that day and 12 the next. On Sun-
day, the llth, the brigade rested near New Kent Court House,
and next day marched to the Pamunkey River at Cumberland
Landing. It moved thence next day to White House, the
head of navigation on the river and base of supply for the
army. Here the brigade remained four days, encamped on
the ancient Custis Plantation, the property of General
Fitzhugh Lee, near the mansion, from which the place takes
its name, in which General Washington was married to Mrs.
Custis. Moving thence on the 19th, it marched by way of
Tunstall's Station to the left bank of the Chickahominy near
New Bridge, ten miles from Richmond to the northeast.
The march from Williamsburg was much of it through a fine
country, now beautiful in the luxuriant growth of early sum-
mer. The weather was warm, though much of it was rainy.
The march was made by easy stages of from five to eight
miles a day. The long columns of infantry and artillery,
the endless trains of army wagons, the camps covering all the
country where the army halted, the waters of the Pamunkey
packed with steamers and other vessels laden with army
stores, offered an imposing spectacle. Strict orders to res-
pect private property were given on the march ; and they
were obeyed to the extent of permitting a Yirginia farmer
to station his negro servant at a well and sell water to tho
thirsty soldiers at two cents a glass ! Later in the war they
did things somewhat differently.
CHAPTEE XII.
THE FIRST BRIGADE— CONTINUED.
Organization of the Sixth Corps— Movement to the front of Richmond —
Battle of Fair Oaks — Crossing the Chickahominy to Golding's Farm —
Swamp fever and hard duty — Gaines's Mill and Golding's Farm —
Retreat of the Army from Richmond — The stand of the rear guard at
Savage's Station — Fighting of the Vermont brigade— The Fifth sustains
the heaviest loss in killed and wounded ever suffered by a Vermont
regiment — Casualties of the brigade — The retreat resumed — Affair at
White Oak Swamp — Terrific Confederate cannonade — Firmness of the
Vermont troops— The brigade at Malvern Hill — The terrible march to
Harrison's Landing — The bivouac in the mud — Return to Fortress
Monroe and to Alexandria.
At White House the Sixth corps of the Army of the
Potomac, with which the Vermont brigade was thencefor-
ward connected, and to whose fame the Ver-
May 16, 1862.
monters have been wont to flatter themselves
that they contributed something, was organized. It was
formed from Franklin's division of McDowell's corps, which
joined the army at White House, having come up by water
from Yorktown, and Smith's division of Keyes's (Fourth)
corps.1 General Franklin was placed in command of it,
General Slocum succeeding Franklin in command of the
First division. It was a notably good body of troops, from
the first. Its first division consisted of General Phil Kear-
ney's old brigade of New Jersey troops, now commanded
'The Fifth corps was organized at the same time, and Fitz John
Porter assigned to its command. These were at first styled " Provisional"
corps.
THE FIEST BRIGADE. 277
by Colonel George W. Taylor ; Slocum's brigade, now com-
manded by Colonel J. J. Bartlett ; and Newton's brigade.1
The Second division consisted of Hancock's brigade, Brooks's
Vermont brigade, and Davidson's brigade.3 The division
and brigade commanders were almost all West Point gradu-
ates and accomplished soldiers, and no less than five of them
rose to be corps commanders. It has bean said of the Sixth
corps that " no other body of troops ever made for itself so
proud a record. No corps, either in our own army or in
any other, ever met the enemy so frequently in general bat-
tle. Never were either of its two divisions put to rout ; and
in almost all its encounters the corps held the field as
victors."3
On the 22d of May the Sixth corps was holding the right
of the army, and the Vermont brigade was encamped on a low
pine ridge near Gaines's Mill,4 about eight miles in a straight
line from Richmond. The country about them was diver-
sified with woodland and open fields around the houses of
Virginia farmers and the mansions of planters, who were
still holding their slaves in considerable numbers, and
were enjoying the protection of Union guards stationed
around their houses while they were asserting the right
of secession and predicting the success of the Confederate
arms. Many of these houses, however, were soon taken
1 Kearney's brigade consisted of the First, Second, Third and Fourth
New Jersey; Slocum's of the Sixteenth and Twenty-seventh New York,
Fifth Maine and Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania ; Newton's of the Eighteenth,
Thirty-first and Thirty-second New York and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania.
2 Hancock's brigade consisted of the Fifth Wisconsin, Ninety-ninth
Pennsylvania, Forty-third New York and Sixth Maine ; Davidson's, of
the Thirty -third, Seventy-seventh and Forty-ninth New York and Seventh
Maine.
3 Surgeon Stevens's " Three Years in the Sixth Corps."
4 A Vermont soldier was running the mill, and grinding wheat brought
in by the foragers, for the troops.
278 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
for hospitals, and filled with sick and wounded soldiers of
both armies. Among those so used was "Liberty Hall,"
the birthplace of Patrick Henry, which stood in the rear of
the position of Franklin's corps. The health of the com-
mand was better than it had been in the swampy camps on
Warwick River, and the spirits of the men were high.
Things generally seemed to be looking well for the cause of
the government. Since the first of the year Burnside had
occupied Eoanoke Island and Newbern, N. C., on the coast.
The battle of Shiloh had been fought and was claimed as a
Union victory. New Orleans and Island No. 10 had been
taken, and the control of the Mississippi was lost to the
Confederacy. Norfolk — the original evacuation of which
remains the most astonishing and unnecessary event of the
war, in the view of both North and South — had been reoc-
cupied by the forces of the Union. In various minor
encounters the advantage was claimed for the Federals.
General Banks's troubles in the Shenandoah Valley, which
afforded such solemn experience for our Vermont cavalry,
were impending, but had not yet begun. The confidence of
the troops in McClellan and in themselves was unbounded.
They were before Eichmond with an army which seemed to
them irresistible; and for them it was a mere question of
time whether they should march into the rebel capital and
end the war now, or a few days later. For the Vermont
troops, moreover, the paymaster, Major Freeman, was on
hand, and money plenty. Altogether it was a cheerful
time.
On the 24th the brigade was moved forward a mile or
more, and encamped on the farm of Dr. Gaines, about three
quarters of a mile from the Chickahominy, on the opposite
shore of which the videttes of the enemy were visible with a
glass. The river and the streams running into it were rising
with recent heavy thunder showers, and the fatigue duty, in
making roads, at which many of the troops were set, was
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 279
pretty arduous.1 The booming of artillery, used in the skir-
mishes at the front as McClellan was advancing his lines-
toward Richmond, was a frequent sound, and on the 31st it
deepened into a steady roar, heard from ten o'clock till dark,,
from the field, four to five miles away across the Chicka-
hominy, where the first general engagement of the Peninsular
campaign, called by northern historians the battle of Fair
Oaks, and by the southerners Seven Pines, was fought.
In this battle the Third and Fourth corps of the Army
of the Potomac, which had crossed the Chickahominy several
days before and advanced within six miles of Richmond,
were attacked by General Joe Johnston, with the larger part
of his army, in a sturdy effort to cut them to pieces while
separated by the river from the rest of the army. But Keyes
and Heintzleman, whose men " rose from beds of mud to fight
amid the pelting of the storm,"2 reinforced by Sumner, made
a good fight against superior numbers, and at nightfall still
held their ground on the right bank of the Chickahominy.
The battle was renewed the next morning, and after two or
three hours ended in the withdrawal of the Confederates into
their lines around Eichmond, while the Union commanders
re-established the portions of their lines that had been lost
the previous day. The attempt to drive the left wing of the
army into the river had failed, and had cost the Confederates
over 5,000 men killed and wounded, among the latter being
General J. E. Johnston, who was wounded in the shoulder
1 "A marked evidence of the spirit of our volunteer free soldiery was
offered yesterday. Part of our regiment was sent out to bridge over water
courses and corduroy the road to prepare it for the passage of artillery.
Long pine sticks had to be carried by hand many of them over half a mile,
and then floated to where needed. Many stripped off their clothes ; others
plunged in with them on ; all working nobly, till three deep and swift
channels were spanned and the low places corduroyed. Others labored
still more severely and did not come in till midnight. Things now seem
nearly ready for our passage over the river, so that we may move "on ta
Richmond."— Letter from the camp of the Second Vermont.
2 General Keyes's report.
280 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
by a Union bullet and struck from his horse by a shell. The
Union loss was nearly as great.
While this struggle of the 31st was in progress, the
Vermonters, with the rest of General Smith's division, were
under orders to be ready to take arms at a moment's notice.
With intensest interest they watched the signs of the con-
flict. The roar of artillery drew nearer till during the
afternoon the added roll of musketry could be distinguished
and for a while after dark the flashes of cannon and explod-
ing shells were visible. There was little sleep for any of the
troops that night. The men of the Vermont brigade were
under arms most of the night, and before light next morning
they started with three days' rations and sixty rounds of am-
munition, to cross the river at New Bridge, and take part in
that day's fight. But the high water in the river interfered
with the construction of the pontoon bridge which was to
replace one burned by the enemy, and the brigade waited
on the bank till ten o'clock A. M., when word came that its
help was not needed, and it marched back to camp, leaving
the Sixth regiment to guard the bridge. An hour later the
regiments were called into line without arms, to hear the
news of the repulse of the enemy, which was announced by
the colonels and received by the men with rousing cheers.
Accounts from the other side show that there was no cheer-
ing in Richmond that day; and that as the extent of the
Confederate losses became known a feeling of apprehension
deepened almost into panic that night in the Confederate
capital.
The pause of fighting following the battle of Fair Oaks,
was improved by McClellan to push his lines still nearer to
Richmond. As part of this movement, Franklin's corps
crossed the river and was posted on the right of the Union
lines, leaving only Porter's corps on the left bank.
Moving with the Sixth corps, Smith's division packed
knapsacks at three o'clock on the morning of June 5th, and
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 281
marching down the river four miles, crossed at Sumner's upper
bridge, known as the " Grapevine Bridge," and moved up on
the right bank to a hill near Golding's house, about a mile
north of Pair Oaks, and half a mile south of the river. Here
the Vermont brigade remained for nineteen days. It was its
nearest approach to Richmond in a body, though a number
of its members entered the city later, without arms, at vari-
ous times during the war. The situation was an exciting
one, and the duty severe. Stray shots and shells from the
Confederate batteries on the hills in front often fell near the
camps ; and the opposing lines were so near that one day
two men were wounded while buying things at a sutler's
cart, in the camp of the Fifth Vermont, by a Confederate
sharpshooter perched in a tree top.1 There was a good deal
of digging going on, much of it at night, in the construction
of breastworks and redoubts, of which the Vermonters had
all they wanted. The picket duty was severe ; and the appre-
hensions of attack such that the regiments stood to arms at
three o'clock every morning, remaining in line till after sun-
rise. This continued till it became evident from the increas-
ing sick list that want of sufficient rest was telling on the
health of the men, when orders were so changed that but one
regiment in each brigade took arms before daylight. Still
the sickness increased, due to the drenching of clothing,
blankets and provisions by the frequent rains, and the malaria
from the swamps and overflowed bottom lands, which grew
more deadly as the hot season advanced. The camps and
hospitals became filled with sick men, and the hospital
steamers plied constantly from the White House to Wash-
ington and Philadelphia, bearing thousands of victims of
" Chickahominy fever." This prevailed in both armies,
though the Northerners naturally suffered most.
1 One of these, Sergeant Bartholomew, Co. E., Fourth Vermont, was
dangerously wounded in the abdomen. The man who shot him was
dropped later in the day by a marksman of the Fourth Vermont.
282 YERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
For three weeks the two armies now looked each other
in the face. General R. E. Lee had succeeded to the com-
mand of the Confederate army, and it was reinforced till
it numbered upwards of eighty thousand men. General
McClellan was telegraphing daily to Washington that he was
almost ready to take Richmond ; but it was the Confederate
commander who forced the fighting, when it was renewed.
General J. E. B. Stuart was first sent out with his troopers
to operate on McClellan's communications, and by his fam-
ous raid around the Union army, contributed to delay action
on the part of the latter, while Stonewall Jackson with his
army of 20,000 men, was brought down from the Shenandoah
Valley with the utmost secrecy and despatch.
On the 25th of June, McClellan advanced his left wing,
which pressed back the Confederate lines for nearly a mile.
This was McClellan's last offensive movement. On that day
Jackson was but 12 miles from Richmond, and General Lee
and he had met in person and arranged for a heavy blow for
the relief of Richmond by a concerted attack on the Fifth
corps, still on the north bank of the Chickahominy. Jackson
expected to be within striking distance of Porter the next
day. He did not get along as fast as he intended to, how-
ever, and did no fighting that day. But A. P. Hill, who was
to co-operate with him, marching from Richmond with his
division, crossed the Chickahominy that day, the 26th, at
Meadow Bridge, above Mechanicsville, and attacked the
portion of Porter's command (McCall's division) which was
guarding the left bank and bridges below. Hill was driven
back by McCall, with a loss, as stated by General Long-
street, of 3,000 or 4,000 men, while McCall's loss was but as
many hundreds. A considerable part of this day's fighting
was visible from the position of Smith's division, and the
Yermonters, who had for a day or two worn their equipments
constantly and kept their arms stacked in readiness for a sud-
den call, were put under arms with the rest of the division
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 283
in expectation of a movement. That night, in anticipation
of the arrival of Lieut. Colonel Getty l with some reserve
batteries of 30-pound Parrotts and siege guns which had
been attached to Smith's division, General Smith threw
up a redoubt, known as "Fort Lincoln," on a crest in front of
his position. The Second Vermont was on duty all night, as
a guard to the working parties ; and next day the heavy guns
were mounted in the work, under the direction of Captain
E. K. Platt, General Franklin's chief of artillery.
That night, the arrival of Jackson's army on his right
and rear having been fully learned by General McClellan,
he decided to retreat to the James Eiver, leaving Porter one
day more on the north bank to hold back Jackson and cover
the start of the Union army.
Next day, Friday, June 27th, the bloody and memorable
battle of Gaines's Mill was fought. The story of that day,
on which, through six hours of desperate fighting and at fear-
ful cost, the Fifth corps, of 17,000 men, reinforced late in the
afternoon by Slocum's division of Franklin's corps, held the
position on the north bank against the Confederate divisions
of Jackson, Longstreet, the two Hills and Whiting,2 55,000
strong, cannot be told here. In this battle General Smith
took a direct part with his heavy artillery. From Fort
Lincoln the Confederate columns advancing over Gaines's
Hill across the river two miles away, to attack Porter's left,
were distinctly visible, and Smith opened and maintained for
several hours a fire on them, which though at long range,
was a serious annoyance and damage to the enemy, General
Pryor's brigade of Longstreet's division especially suffering
1 Afterwards the gallant division commander under whom the Vermont
brigade won some of its brightest laurels.
2 This Whiting was a cousin of Colonel Whiting of the Second Ver-
mont. He was a Northern man and a graduate of West Point, who,
having married a Southern wife, took his sword to the service of the
Confederacy.
284 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
under it.1 Of this first of the seven day's battles, the engage-
ment inscribed on the Vermont standards under the title of
"Golding's Farm,"3 was an episode.
GOLDING'S FARM.
To understand this action, it is to be noted that while two
thirds of the Confederate army assaulted Porter on the north
side of the river, it was the part of the other third, under
Magruder, to distract the attention of the greater part of
the Union army, on the south side, and thus to prevent
the sending of help to Porter. To this end, Magruder made
successive demonstrations against the Union lines in front
of him, with ostentatious movements of troops and frequent
furious cannonades. A considerable portion of these demon-
strations were made against the position of Franklin's corps,
whose lines were held throughout the day by Smith's divi-
sion, the other division (Slocum's) having been sent across
the river. Magruder's batteries opened from the crests in
front of Smith about noon, and Smith's guns replied. The
cannonading was kept up during the afternoon, and at times
the shells fell pretty thickly in the camps of the Vermont
regiments, killing a man of the Fifth, and wounding three
others. In the latter part of the afternoon, having discovered,
probably, that half of Franklin's corps had been sent across
the river, General Magruder ordered General Jones, com-
manding a division, to " feel of the enemy " in his front with
strong pickets, and to " follow up any advantage that might
offer." General Robert Toombs was directed by Jones to
do the " feeling," with his brigade of Georgia troops. The
1 General Pryor says in his Report that he deployed his brigade "under
a galling tire from the enemy's battery over the river;" and that his troops
'suffered severely from the battery across the Chickahominy."
3 Erroneously dated in the lists of battles in Adj't General Washburn's
Report for 1866, as occurring on the 26th.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 285
pressure came on Hancock's brigade, which was manning
the lines in front, supported by a portion of the Yermont
brigade ; and a sharp engagement, lasting two hours, follow-
ed. Toombs did not find his task a pleasant one, nor did
he obtain any advantage to follow up, and with the repulse
of his demonstration the operations of the day on the south
side of the Chickahominy ended.
Taking up this affair in detail, with reference to the part
taken in it by Vermont troops, it was about three o'clock
in the afternoon when the enemy's movements
in front of Smith became threatening. General
Brooks, whose brigade was under arms near its camp, was
thereupon ordered to send a regiment to strengthen Hancock's
line, in the skirts of the woods in front of Garnett's house.
He sent the Fourth Vermont, and it was deployed between
the Fifth Wisconsin and Forty-Third New York. Eight
opposite, a hundred yards away, across an open field, in the
edge of some timber, was the skirmish line of the enemy
supported by several Georgia regiments. The same troops
had faced each other at that point for some days pre-
vious, and the men on the two sides had met in truces of
their own arrangement, to exchange newspapers and trade
coffee for tobacco, and a mutual understanding had been
established that there should be no shooting on either side,
without notice. This little arrangement came to an end that
afternoon. Shortly after sundown, the enemy advanced in
line of battle, drove in the Union pickets — some of whom
fell back while others took shelter in a hollow, over which
the bullets soon flew thickly in both directions — and advanc-
ing half way across the field to the top of a low ridge, fired a
volley. The Fourth Vermont, with the other regiments on its
right and left, returned the fire so warmly that the enemy
fell back to cover. They returned a while after, and partially
sheltered by the ridge, kept up a sharp musketry fire, which
286 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was returned by Hancock's men and the Vermonters, till
some time after dark.
During this affair the Sixth Yermont was also brought
up to support the right of Hancock's line ; and the pickets,
of the Forty-Third New York, having exhausted their am-
munition, a portion of the Sixth Vermont took their places
on the skirmish line, while two companies, under Major
Tuttle, were sent some distance to the right, to take the
enemy on the flank. Still later the Sixth relieved the Fifth
Maine and Forty-Ninth Pennsylvania, and held the picket
line on the centre through the night. Two companies of the
Fifth Yermont J were also on the picket line, in the low
ground on the right. The rest of the brigade lay on their
arms within supporting distance, through the night, the
Fourth regiment having been withdrawn from the front
before midnight.
The brigade commanders on each side considered this
an affair of some consequence. General Toornbs, in his
report of it, says : " The action now raged with great violence
"for an hour and a half, the enemy exhibiting a determined
"purpose to drive us out of the ravine; but finding them-
" selves incapable of wrenching it from the heroic grasp of
"the Second and Fifteenth Georgia volunteers, were driven
"back and repulsed after two hours of fierce and determined
"conflict." In fact, however, the repulse was wholly on the
other side. General Hancock says : " The contest of
"musketry continued until long after dark, when the enemy
"was repulsed with serious loss. The cartridges of our
"troops were nearly exhausted at the close of the contest.
" The action of itself had its greatest importance from the
"fact that the enemy had just gained a success on the other
" bank of the Chickahominy, and from the fact that had he
"been able to force his way through our lines, at the point
1 Companies I and C.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 287
"held by me, he would have been able to separate the two
" portions of our army on either bank of the stream." Gen-
eral Hancock further alludes to the " valuable assistance "
rendered by General Brooks with the Fourth and Sixth
Vermont.
The Fourth Vermont had eight men wounded in this
action, and the Sixth lost one killed, six wounded and one
missing. Hancock's command (including the Vermonters)
had seven men killed and 111 wounded and missing. The
regiments opposed to them were the Second, Fifteenth,
Seventeenth, and Twentieth Georgia, of Toombs's brigade,
and the Seventh Georgia of Anderson's brigade. General
Toombs does not state his total loss ; but he admits a loss
of about 200 men killed and wounded in two of his regi-
ments/ and his aggregate loss was probably at least twice
that of the Union troops opposed to him.
It has long been known that if General McClellan had
that day resolutely thrown forward his left wing he could
have marched into Richmond; for Magruder had but 25,000
men with which to oppose him, while McClellan had 60,000
men on the south side of the Chickahominy. " Had McClel-
"lan," says General Magruder, in his report, "massed his
*' force in column and advanced against any point in our
"line of battle, though the head of his column would have
" suffered severely, its momentum would have insured its
" success, and the occupation of our works about Richmond,
"and consequently of the city, might have been his reward.'
But General McClellan was thinking this day not of advance
but of retreat. During that night the unwelcome intelligence
General Toombs states that the Second Georgia "lost in killed and
•wounded about one-half of the men carried into action " — having previously
stated that seven companies of the Second Georgia took about 250 muskets
into action — and that the Fifteenth Georgia lost its commander, Colonel
Mclntosh, mortally wounded, and 71 men killed and wounded. He adds
that many other valuable officers and men were killed or wounded.
288 VEllMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
spread rapidly through the army that the siege of Richmond
was to be abandoned, and that the retreat of the army had
in fact begun. Long wagon trains and lines of artillery and
troops were already moving toward White Oak Swamp ; and
bonfires of the new tents, supplied a few days before, and of
commissary stores and clothing which could not be "carried,
began to light up the wide spread sites of the army camps.
It was a time of general gloom, relieved in part by the uni-
versal conviction that immense superiority in numbers on the
part of the enemy alone had compelled the retreat ; and the
equally universal confidence, among the troops, that the
genius and ability of their general-in-chief would bring them
out all right in the not distant end.1
Next day Franklin's corps was withdrawn a short dis-
tance toward Fair Oaks ; the movement of the Vermont
brigade being accelerated by a furious shelling opened on
its camps in the forenoon by rebel batteries posted on
Gaines's Hill across the river, and on Garnett's Hill in front.
The shells flew thick and fast, crossing each other at right
angles over and around the tents, killing two men and wound-
ing six before the column started. But the men had their
knapsacks already packed, and the brigade moved off to the
left for half a mile through the woods between the river and
Fair Oaks, whither the rest of the division followed. On
the way the rear guard, of Davidson's brigade, turned to meet
Anderson's Georgia brigade, which crowded on its rear, and
gave the latter a rebuff in which the Seventh and Eighth
Georgia lost by their own account 150 men, including Colonel
Lamar of the Eighth Georgia, who was severely wounded
'"That we are any of us saved, is the result only of McClellan's
genius." — Army letter.
It was this night that McClellan sent his famous letter to Secretary
Stanton, in which he said : " The government has not sustained the army.
If you do not do so now the game is lost. * * You have done your best
to sacrifice this army." When he was writing this McClellan had 20,000
more men than were opposed to Mm.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 289
and taken prisoner ; Lieut. Colonel White, commanding the
Third Georgia, also captured ; and Lieut. Colonel Tower,
Eighth Georgia, Major Magruder, and a dozen commissioned
officers wounded.
Starting before daylight next morning, Sunday, June
29th, while a thin picket line (withdrawn at sunrise) kept up
a show of strength in front of Magruder's lines, General
Smith's division moved to the east, along the highlands skirt-
ing the Chickahominy, halting and forming line near Dr.
Trent's house, to cover the rear of the wagon trains. Then
turning to the southwest it marched to Savage's Station. The
scene of destruction and apparent confusion prevailing there
was one not soon to be forgotten by any eye witness. To
this point a large share of the immense stores gathered at
the White House had been brought by railroad, and what
could not now be loaded into the wagons was destroyed.
Piles of hard bread as large as houses, and immense quanti-
ties of flour, sugar, coffee and pork, in barrels, were consigned
to the flames, and were made unfit for use by the smoke when
not utterly consumed. Boxes of clothing and shoes were
knocked open and every man helped himself to what he
wanted, while enough was left to clothe and shoe the in-
habitants of the region for two years after. A long train of
cars was loaded with powder and shells, the cars set on fire,
and the train started down grade to the river, filling the air
with exploding shells and fragments of shattered cars as it
held its fiery way, till it crashed through the blazing railroad
bridge, when, with a grand explosion, train and bridge dis-
appeared together. Here too were the large army hospitals,
in which over 2,500 sick and wounded men, and several hun-
dred surgeons and nurses, were left to fall into the enemy's
hands.
The battle of Savage's Station was fought in the after-
noon and evening of this day. In estimating its importance it
is to be remembered that the success of General McClellan's
290 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
change of base to the James, depended first on his successful
passage of the great natural barrier of White Oak Swamp,
which, extending over half-way across the Peninsula south of
Richmond, lay squarely across his line of retreat. To with-
draw an army of 115,000 fighting men from the face of an
eager and victorious foe, and to move it with its immense
army train of 5,000 wagons through the narrow funnel which
afforded the only practicable passage through the swamp, was
no child's play. Its accomplishment was perhaps the greatest
achievement of McClellan's military career.
SAVAGE'S STATION.
The duty of making a stand in front of the road leading
from Savage's Station to the swamp, was undertaken by the
faithful Sumner, who was to be (but was not) supported by
Heintzleman. If Sumner could hold his ground
June 29, 1862.
at the Station the success of the grand move-
ment was largely assured ; for the swamp, once passed, would
guard the retreat as much as it had hindered the march of
the army. Sumner, after giving Magruder's a sharp repulse
at Allen's Farm, two miles up the railroad toward Rich-
mond, during the forenoon, fell back and formed his corps in
front of Savage's Station, supposing that Heintzleman was
taking position on his left. But to his surprise he learned,
after the fighting began in the afternoon, that the latter had
moved off to the swamp.1
Slocum's division, of Franklin's corps, had been sent
forward to the swamp by General McClellan. General Smith
also expected to move his division to and through the swamp
that day; but finding in the morning, when he rode with
1 Heintzleman's excuse for this was that he considered the open ground
around Savage's Station too narrow to permit him to deploy his corps, in
addition to the other troops thronging into it ; and he thought it best to take
advantage of the only road leading direct from Savage's Station to White
Oak Swamp, while it was open to him. The discovery that he had gone
was made by Generals Franklin and Sedgwick, who rode out to the left to
find Heintzleman, and were fired on by the enemy's artillery.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 291
General Franklin to the Station to look the ground over, that
the position there was insufficiently guarded, he, by General
Franklin's direction, disposed his division for a time in front
of the Station. This point was guarded by him for two
hours. After Sumner arrived with his corps, shortly after
noon, Smith started on with his division for White Oak
Swamp ; but had not gone over two miles on the way when
he was recalled by General Sumner, who, left in the lurch by
Heintzleman's departure, was glad to make the most of
Smith's support. The rear guard at Savage's Station thus
consisted of Sumner's corps and Smith's division ; and as it
happened, all the fighting there done by that division fell to
the lot of the Vermont brigade.
The stand of the rear guard at Savage's Station was a
notable passage in the history of the Peninsular campaign,
v and the battle will be ever memorable to Yermonters as that
in which one of our regiments, the Fifth, suffered the greatest
loss in killed and wounded ever sustained by a Vermont
regiment in action.
Fully aware at last of McClellan's purpose and line of
retreat, the Confederate commanders had been all day of
Sunday, June 29th, hurrying forward their forces to strike
the portion of his army which should be found on the north
side of the swamp. This must fight alone, for the roads
from Savage's Station into the swamp were packed with
troops, artillery wagons, and herds of cattle, till not another
man or animal could be added. Any attack upon or panic
in this immense procession would have involved tremendous
losses of guns and material. As has been stated, Smith's
division arrived first at Savage's Station, and formed line
of battle there about one o'clock. Some two hours later,
Sumner's corps having arrived and taken position, Smith
started for White Oak Swamp. He had proceeded about
two miles when the engagement opened at the Station, and
he was ordered back by Sumner. Sumner had stationed
292 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
one of his two divisions, Richardson's, along the railroad at
the Station and to the right of it, and the other, Sedgwick's,
in open ground between the railroad and the Williamsburg
road. When Smith's division arrived he sent Hancock's
brigade to support Richardson on the right, and Brooks's
brigade to the left to prolong Sedgwick's line and hold the
ground which Heintzleman had been expected to occupy.
The Third brigade, commanded by Colonel Taylor, its com-
mander, General Davidson, having had a sunstroke that
day, was held in reserve. All the fighting of the battle of
Savage's Station was done on the left of the railroad. Rich-
ardson's front was threatened but not assaulted, and Han-
cock for once had nothing to do. On the left, Sedgwick and
Brooks repulsed and drove from their front two of Ma-
gruder's three divisions; secured the position of Savage's
Station for four hours, during which the last of McClellan's
army, save the rear guard, made good its retreat into the
swamp; and held the ground till they themselves, under
cover of the darkness, could follow the rest of the army.
Had the Vermont brigade failed to do its duty, Sedgwick
would have been flanked and probably cut to pieces, and
Richardson and Hancock, taken in detail, might have been
destroyed or captured. The columns pouring into White
Oak Swamp would have been stampeded ; White Oak Bridge
would have been seized by the enemy ; and the story of the
grand change of base would in all human probability have
had a very different ending. The details of this service are
full of interest.
General Magruder's lorce in this battle consisted of his
own division and the divisions of McLaw's and Jones ; and
in addition to his field batteries, he had a 32-lb rifled gun,
mounted on a railroad platform car, and protected by an
iron plated shield. Upon the performance of this " Railroad
Merrimac," as the Richmond papers called it, the Confede-
rates had counted not a little ; and it did them good service
THE FIEST BRIGADE. 293
that day. The battle opened about half past four o'clock
P. M., by Magruder's artillery, to which Sedgwick's guns re-
plied. To the roar of these, Smith's division returned to the
field. The day was very hot, and the men had been march-
ing or standing under arms all day ; but they hurried back
at double quick, conscious that they were wanted. General
Brooks halted the brigade something over a mile from the
field, on the Williamsburg road. His orders were to advance
into the woods on the left of the road and push back the
enemy, now swarming into the woods in front, in strong
force, and threatening to envelop Sedgwick's left. General
Brooks formed his command with a line of battle in front,
composed of the Fifth Yermont, Lieut. Colonel Grant,1 on
the right, and the Sixth, Colonel Lord, on the left. Sup-
porting these were the Second, Colonel Whiting, and Third,
Lieut. Colonel Yeazey,2 each in column by division. Two
companies (A. and K.) of the Second Yermont were thrown
forward as skirmishers, under command of Lieut. Colonel
Walbridge. The Fourth regiment, Colonel Stoughton, was
held in reserve, and did not become engaged. General
Brooks had little or no aid from the artillery, the Union
batteries engaged being all posted on the north of the
Williamsburg road. The four regiments first named entered
the woods in the order above described, and advanced about
half a mile, when the skirmishers engaged the enemy's
skirmishers, and drove them back upon their main line.
The skirmishers then drew off to the left, and the battle
on the south of the Williamsburg road opened in deadly
earnest. When it closed each of the Yermont regiments
1 Colonel Smalley was not with the brigade during this campaign, and
at this time was absent on sick leave.
2 Colonel Hyde was taken sick a day or two before ; and Lieut. Colonel
Veazey, who had been for a time in command of the Seventy-seventh New
York, of Davidson's brigade, was the day previous, at the close of the action
at Golding's farm, placed in command of the Third Vermont.
294
VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
actively engaged had cleared its front of the enemy, and
the brigade held its ground till it was withdrawn to join the
division on the night march to White Oak Swamp. As the
density of the woods and the shadows of the evening, which
were already falling as the brigade entered the timber, hid the
regiments from each other and to a great extent from the eye
of the brigade commander, the fighting was necessarily of a
somewhat disconnected and desultory sort. General Brooks
Battle-neld of Savage's Station, June 29, 1862.
was there and did his duty and received a painful wound
but from the nature of the case he could not direct to any
considerable extent the details of the fighting of his brigade.
Each regimental commander had his order to advance and
engage any opposing force ; and each the final order to re-
tire. Between these orders, each colonel largely fought his
regiment on his own hook ; and the work of the brigade can
be best described by describing the actions of the several regi-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 295
ments. These will be taken up in the order in which they
became engaged.
The Fifth regiment had the right of the line, and at the
order to advance pushed into the woods in good shape, its
right resting on and directing its course by the Williams-
burg road. Soon after entering the woods it marched straight
over a Union regiment which had been ordered in shortly
before, but had halted in the woods and refused to advance.
This was a large regiment, which had joined Smith's division
several weeks before from General Wool's command. Its
men, mostly recruited in the saloons and beer gardens of New
York city, made a fine appearance on parade, but proved to
be of poor fighting quality. This was their first experience
under fire, and they had thrown themselves upon the ground
and utterly refused to move. Stepping over them the men of
the Fifth marched straight on.1 The enemy's battery and the
railroad monitor were raking the woods through which they
must advance with a terrible fire of shell and grape. As
they neared the open ground in front they came up with the
line of skirmishers, who now withdrew, and in a moment
more the line of the Fifth came out into an open field, and
confronted the hitherto unseen enemy. In the open ground
on the right of the road, Burns's brigade, supported on its
left by the First Minnesota, was actively engaged with
Kershaw's brigade. In front of the Fifth was Semmes's
brigade in a hollow which almost hid it from view. On a
crest beyond, on the Williamsburg road, were Kemper's
guns.
In later days and with added experience, Colonel Grant,
1 " I remember as if it was yesterday the way we tramped over that
line of cringing men, cursing them soundly for their cowardice. The same
regiment the next day broke at White Oak Swamp, and ran away, and had
our brigade not been made of better stuff, Jackson would have forced the
crossing at White Oak Bridge. General McClellan had the whole regiment
put under guard, and punished officers and men severely." — Statement of
Sergeant Lucius Bigelow.
296 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
in such a situation, would have halted his regiment in the
protection of the woods, thrown out skirmishers, and either
awaited the enemy's attack, or at least postponed his own
advance till the battery in front had been flanked and dis-
lodged. But it was his first battle, and he did not intend to
do any less than he was ordered to do. His order was to
advance and push back the enemy, and he obeyed it even too
literally. As the regiment pressed straight on, its right soon
crossed the Williamsburg road, which here bends a little to-
wards the south, the right company lapping the left of the
First Minnesota.1 It advanced till the enemy was visible in
the hollow in front. Colonel Grant now ordered a bayonet
charge. The Fifth charged on the double quick ; and the
opposing line broke into the woods on its right and left.
Another Confederate infantry line remained beyond the
hollow, and, halting his regiment, Grant opened fire upon it.
Two volleys were returned, from as many regiments, while
Kemper's battery opened with grape and canister, and from
the edge of the woods to the left came a cross fire of mus-
ketry. The storm of death swept through the ranks of the
Fifth with murderous effect. In less time than it takes to
tell it, the ground was strewn with fallen Yermonters. In
twenty minutes every other man in the line of the Fifth was
killed or wounded. None but heroes of the stoutest mettle
would have held their ground under such circumstances ; but
refusing its left to avoid the enfilading fire from the woods,
and taking advantage of a slight swell of ground and a few
scattered trees in front, the Fifth maintained its advanced
position, silenced the enemy in its front, and did not fall back
till ordered to the rear with the brigade, hours after. The
men had sixty rounds of cartridges, and many of them
used them all, exchanging their guns as they became heated
1 Some of the men of the First Minnesota fought for a time in the
ranks of the Fifth Vermont.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 297
for those of their fallen comrades. Soon after dark, the fire
of the enemy wholly ceased, and the Fifth was in undisputed
possession of its position. No Vermont regiment ever made
a braver fight, or at such fearful cost. The Fifth had in line
on that field probably not over 400 muskets. Its loss in
killed and wounded was 206 — most of whom fell in the first
half hour.1 The larger portion of the casualties were inflicted
by Kemper's battery. Asst. Surgeon Sawin of the Second
Yermout, who visited the field next day, says in a letter writ-
ten soon after : " Thirty men of the Fifth Vermont were
found lying side by side, dressed in as perfect a line as for a
dress parade, who were all stricken down by one discharge
of grape and canister from the enemy's battery." '* Com-
panies E. and H. suffered especially from the artillery fire.
Company E. had three commissioned officers and 56 men in
line, of whom but seven came out unharmed and of the
others twenty-five — lacking one of one-half — were killed or
mortally wounded. In the ranks of that company that day
stood five brothers, from Manchester, Henry, Hiram, Silas,
William and Edward Cummings, with a cousin of the same
surname, William H. Cummings, and a brother-in-law,
Horace Clayton. Of these seven men six were killed and
1 We could not, allowing for shirks and feeble men, blown by double-
quicking, have carried more than 400 muskets into battle. We lost in
twenty minutes 206 men, killed and wounded. In spite of this awful loss
the regiment held its ground and quelled the fire of the enemy ; and it was
difficult to make the men understand why they should retreat after dark;
for they felt that they had held their ground and won the day." — Statement
of Sergeant Lucius Bigelow.
2 This scene, so sad to Union eyes, was visited, and of course viewed
with different feelings, by many Confederate officers. In his article on
McClellan's Change of Base, in the Century Magazine for July, 1885, Gen-
eral D. H. Hill says of it : "About half a mile from the Station (Savage's)
•we saw what seemed to be an entire regiment of Federals cold in death,
and learned that a Vermont regiment had made a desperate charge upon
the division of McLaw's, and had been almost annihilated."
298 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
one severely wounded.1 Such fatality in one family in one
battle, was probably without a parallel in the war.
Kemper's battery had fired three rounds before the Fifth
could reply. Two companies then gave their attention
especially to the battery, which about this time, being threat-
ened by the advance of the rest of the Yermont brigade and
left unsupported by the retreat of the Confederate infantry,
ceased firing and withdrew, and was not heard from again
that night.
The experience of the other three regiments was less
severe. All advanced together, but found it difficult to keep
their lines dressed in the woods, or to hold their direction.
The Sixth started forward with the Fifth, but bore more to
the left. It was at one time in great danger, as the enemy
lapped its line, and a Confederate regiment moved in the
twilight to its left and rear ; but this retreated after firing a
volley. Musket balls and grapeshot flew thickly through the
woods, and over sixty of the men fell without seeing their
opponents. The Sixth held its position in the woods till the
enemy retired from its front, and till the brigade was with-
drawn.
The Second regiment was still moving in column by
division, when, its front having been uncovered by the
divergence of the regiments in front, it suddenly came under
fire from the enemy's batteries in front and halted. Colonel
Whiting's order at this juncture, was to "charge bayonets!" *
This being a movement not known to the tactics, as the regi-
ment was then closed in mass, the men stood still. His next
1 The survivor was the oldest of the brothers, Henry. He had a seri-
ous wound in the thigh, and was discharged six months after by special
order of the Secretary of War. William Cummings suffered amputation of
the thigh, and did not survive the operation.
2 Statement of Colonel "Whiting, who frankly admits that for the
moment he was "at his wits end."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 299
command was to cheer, and this was lustily obeyed.1 The
regiment was then partially deployed, and the front line re-
turned the enemy's fire coming from the woods in front.
The regiment was subsequently withdrawn to a cross road,
where it remained till the brigade retired. Of the casualties
in the Second regiment about half took place among the
skirmishers.
The Third regiment started forward in rear of the Sixth
in column by division ; but in marching through the woods, as
was the case with each regiment, lost sight of the other regi-
ments. It probably bore to the left of the Sixth till its
front was uncovered. As it advanced it came under a lively
artillery fire which, however, damaged the trees more than
the men. In accordance with his orders, Lieut. Colonel
Yeazey now deployed the regiment into line and kept on till
suddenly from the thick woods in front, about forty yards
away, came a challenge : "Who are you?" Some one in the
line of the Third answered, "The Third Vermont." The
prompt reply to this was a volley of musketry, which took
effect principally on the left of the Third, cutting down
Captain Corbin commanding the left company, Company C.,
and nearly half of the men of that company in the line. The
Third returned the fire, at the same time, by Colonel Veazey's
order, cheering loudly, and the opposing regiment, which
was the Fifth Louisiana, of Semmes's brigade, unable to see
what force was before it, and fearing, as some of the rebels
were heard to say to each other, that it would be flanked
or cut off, retreated without staying upon the order of its
going, and was seen and heard no more that night. The
Third maintained its position till ordered back, an hour later.
After the enemy's fire in front had slackened, and it was be-
1 ' ' That command to cheer I lay up as the best act performed by me
during my service. Only soldiers can estimate what a cheer may accom-
plish, when matters seem to be on the balance." — Statement of Colonel
Whiting.
300 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
coming dark in the woods, Major Walbridge, who, with a por-
tion of the skirmishers, was at the extreme left of the liae of
the brigade, heard troops moving still farther to the left.
Surmising that it might be a Union regiment coming up to
extend the line, he rode out towards them and hailed them
with the question : " What troops are those ?" They at once
halted, and a voice replied : " Who are you ?" Walbridge
repeated: "What regiment is that?" Again the voice
replied: "You tell!" followed by the order : "Keady!" Be-
fore the order to fire, which followed, came, Walbridge had
wheeled his horse, put spurs to him, and with his head bent
down to his saddlebow, was dashing away through the under-
brush. The bullets rattled around him ; but he was not hurt.
General Brooks, however, who was also riding to the left
at the time to learn what was going on there, was wounded
in the calf of the right leg by this volley. The Confederate
regiment fell back at once after firing.
The loss of the brigade at Savage's Station was 358, as
follows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Died of wounds. Total.
Second Vermont, 5 43 0 3 48
Third " 6 18 0 0 24
Fourth "00 5 sick in hosp. 0 5
Fifth " 45 158 3 " " " 27 206
Sixth " 15 51 9 " " " 6 75
71 270 17 36 358
A number of additional " missing " were reported at the
time ; but included among them were 14 men detailed to
remain as nurses with the sick and wounded. The rest, for
the most part belonged in the list of killed. Three brave
young officers, Lieutenants Sumner and Comstock of the Fifth
and Kamsay of the Third, were among the killed ; and the
list of wounded comprised eleven commissioned officers.1 The
1 Captains Corbin and Nelson of the Third, Captains Benton, Jenne
and Seager, and Lieutenants Barber, Peck, Smith, Wilson and Wright of
the Fifth, and Lieutenant Wood of the Sixth.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 301
loss was not all on one side. Kershaw lost 290 men, some
of whom, no doubt, fell from the fire of the Vermont troops.
General Semmes, who, as his report shows, had four regi-
ments, the Tenth and Fifty-third Georgia, Fifth Louisiana,
and Thirty-second Virginia, (with two more, Fifteenth Vir-
ginia and Tenth Louisiana, in reserve) opposed to the Third
and Sixth Vermont, admits severe loss in the Tenth Georgia.
Sernmes says that "no less than four hundred of the enemy's
dead were found on the field the next morning," in front of
three regiments of his brigade ; and that " more than one
hundred of the dead enemy " were counted on the field im-
mediately in front of the Fifth Louisiana. How wild these
assertions are may be seen from the fact that the Fifth
Louisiana, by Semmes's account, was engaged with no regi-
ment but the Third Vermont,1 and the killed of the Third
were five ! A like discount of ninety-five per cent, must be
made in his statement of the number of Union dead in front
of his brigade. This did not hold its position ; but, as his
report shows, marched back to its camp an hour and a half
before the Vermont brigade left the field. If General Sem-
mes's statement of his own loss is as wide of the truth, a con-
siderable addition may be made to the Confederate loss in
his brigade.3
It may be mentioned here that the Union soldiers
wounded and captured at Savage's Station suffered much
from want of care, though the less severely wounded did their
1 ''Discovering troops not more than forty yards in front, I directed
Private Maddox, Co. K., Fifth Louisiana, to advance and challenge "Who
are you ?" to which the reply was " Friends." Hearing this I demanded :
" What regiment?" and was answered : " Third Vermont." Whereupon
the order was given to commence firing." — Semmes's report.
2 As the aggregates of casualties in the seven days battles, on both
sides, generally comprise several engagements, it is difficult to allot the
losses accurately. Confederate reports seem to admit a loss of about 1,000
more than the Union losses in the action at Savage's Station.
302 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
best to relieve the more helpless sufferers. "We were
obliged to neglect many," says P. H. Taylor, a member of the
First Minnesota, who, himself wounded, acted as a volunteer
nurse, " and maggots filled nearly every wound that came
under my observation." 1 " You must do the best you can for
your wounded," said Stonewall Jackson to Mr. Taylor: "we've
got all we want to do to follow up your army." A number
of Vermonters died in the field hospitals at Savage's Station.
The survivors were sent to Richmond.
" This day's operations," says the Comte de Paris, "were
a great success for McClellan. The first and most difficult
step in his retreat movement was taken and with fortunate
results. He had succeeded in placing White Oak Swamp
between his army and the main body of his adversaries, and
in surmounting this serious obstacle without losing either a
cannon or a vehicle.3 All the efforts of the enemy to effect a
rout in his rear-guard had been repulsed with loss." Sedg-
wick and Brooks did the fighting by which this result was
secured. Magruder and his division generals evidently
realized the importance of those closing hours of the 29th of
June. Their attempt to destroy Sumner was pressed with
ardor and high hope ; and but for the steadiness of the Ver-
mont brigade, which for four hours held back double its
numbers, without yielding to them a foot of ground, it would
have been successful. General Sumner wa» for staying at
Savage's. " No, General," he said to General Franklin, " you
1 " In spite of all my precautions, my wound became maggotty; and
there is no describing the misery I was in. How to remove them was a
puzzle ; but I obtained some spirits of turpentine, which others were using
for the same purpose, and placing my leg in the right position I turned in
the turpentine, letting it pass entirely through the wound, which had the
effect of clearing out the wound and the rnaggots also."— Dia-y of Lucius
D. Savage, Company F., Second Vermont, wounded in the leg at Savage's
Station.
2 This is not quite correct. Mott lost a gun at White Oak Bridge, and
the batteries attached to McCall's division lost fourteen guns at Glendale.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 303
shall not go, nor will I go. I never leave a victorious field.
Why, if I had 20,000 more men I would crush this rebel-
lion!" x But he was finally convinced by Franklin and Smith
and by Lieutenant Berry of Smith's staff, who had seen
General McClellan but a short time before, that the latter
expected all of his army to cross the swamp that night, and
he reluctantly permitted the division commanders to give the
necessary orders.
WHITE OAK SWAMP.
About ten o'clock that evening, Smith's division resumed
the retreat. Leaving the dead on the field and the wounded
who were not able to march, some in a blacksmith's shop
and others under rude shelters of boughs, in charge of Sur-
geons Kussell of the Fifth and Sawin of the Second, who,
with several hospital attendants were left to care for them
and share their captivity, the brigade marched with the divi-
sion for White Oak Swamp. The night was dark ; but numer-
ous fires, built by teamsters and stragglers in the pine woods
along the road, lit up the line of march. Sick and wounded
men, many using their guns as crutches, staggered in long
procession after the column. The road was filled with
wagons, ambulances and artillery, mingled with the troops.
Throngs of stragglers, of other organizations, hung upon the
rear of the brigade, and pressed into the ranks of the regi-
ments when they halted ; and it was with difficulty that any
organization was preserved. All night long the march con-
tinued. Shortly after daylight, on the 30th, the division
crossed White Oak Bridge and halted on the other side of
the creek, where it was to make a second stand, to cover the
retreat of the army. The bridge was destroyed in the morn-
ing after the last trains and troops had crossed. Ayres's,
Mott's and Wheeler's batteries were posted to command the
1 Century Magazine, Vol. XXX., p. 463.
304 * VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
crossing, and the division was stationed in the woods and
open ground near by. The Vermont brigade, after several
changes of position, halted in an open field, skirted by a belt
of trees, near the bridge. Hundreds of army wagons were
parked in the field. Officers and men, exhausted by the ex-
citement and fatigue of the previous day and night, stretched
themselves on the grass, and sank into sleep. They had
slept for several hours when their rest was rudely broken.
Stonewall Jackson, having effected a crossing of the Chicka-
hominy the evening previous, at the Grapevine Bridge, which
he had to rebuild, had pushed on in pursuit of the Union
column till, about the middle of the forenoon, his advance
was checked at White Oak Bridge, by finding the bridge
gone, and Smith's division posted on the opposite bank. The
inequalities of the ground on the north side enabled him to
approach without discovery within easy artillery range, and
he quietly brought forward seven field batteries to the brow
of the hill, which commanded the field in which the Vermont
troops lay and most of the ground around. The guns were
hidden by the underbrush, and their presence was not dis-
covered by a man of Smith's command. Accounts differ as
to the number of Jackson's guns in battery. Colonel Crutch-
field, his chief of artillery, says, in his report of the affair :
" I found it possible with a little work, to open a way
" through the woods to the right of the road on which we
" advanced, by which our guns could be brought, unseen by
"the enemy, in position behind the crest of the hill on
"this side, about one thousand yards from the enemy's
"batteries. Seven batteries, in all 23 guns, were accordingly
" ordered up. * * * About fifteen minutes of two P. M.,
" we opened on the enemy, who had no previous intimation
"of our position and intention." General Jackson in his
report says the number of guns so used was twenty-eight.
General D. H. Hill says there were thirty-one guns upon the
bluff— 26 from his division and five from Whiting's division.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 305
Either number was quite enough to satisfy the troops exposed
to their fire. For these, the opening bellow of the cannon-
ade was the first note of warning, and before they realized
what it meant the air was full of whizzing missiles which
plunged with exceeding carelessness among the troops,
knocking mules and wagons to pieces, and making bad work
among the battery men and horses.1 General Franklin says
of this bombardment : " It commenced with a severity which
I never heard equalled in the field." The scene presented
for a few moments after, is thus described by Surgeon Stevens
of the Seventy -seventh New York : " Unutterable confusion
"prevailed for a time ; riderless horses galloped madly to the
" rear ; officers wandered without commands, and men were
"left without directions how to act. Generals Smith and
" Davidson occupied an old fashioned wooden house, which
"stood upon the brow of the elevation above and facing the
" bridge. About it were many orderlies, holding their horses.
'* The first volley riddled the house with shells. The gray-
" haired owner of the house (Mr. Britton) was cut in two as
"he stood in the door, and several other persons were injured.
" General Smith, at the moment the cannonade opened, was
" engaged at his rude toilet ; his departure from the house
" was so hasty that he left his watch, which he did not re-
" cover. He coolly walked to a less exposed position and
"devoted himself to restoring order." In this confusion the
Vermont regiments shared to the extent of breaking for the
nearest shelter. But they rallied at once behind the screen
of timber, under the efforts of some of the regimental and
staff officers who retained their coolness, at a time when some
undeniably brave officers entirely lost their self-possession.
And when General Brooks rode slowly up on his iron-gray
horse, and came out through the skirt of the woods into
1 Wheeler's battery suffered severely, four of his guns being disabled
by loss of artillerymen and horses ; and one of Mott's guns was left behind
when the division moved on.
20
306 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
sight of his men. they welcomed him with a cheer and fell
into line with a degree of promptness which was remarkable
proof of their courage and discipline. Brooks threw out a
line of skirmishers into the clearing, and a firm front, which
was not again broken that day, was soon presented to the
enemy.
Soon after the rally of the brigade in the pine timber,
through which the hostile shells still flew thickly, the Third
Vermont, Lieut. Colonel Yeazey, was ordered to the left,
to reinforce the Third brigade, and was warmly welcomed
by General Davidson, who posted it to cover his right flank.
Next it on the left, was a large and fine looking regiment.
The little episode which followed is best told in Colonel
Yeazey's words : " The enemy was shelling the woods
" severely but harmlessly in the main. I went to our right
"to deploy one or two companies to cover my right flank,
"there being no troops beyond us. When I rode back, I
"found the regiment on our left had disappeared. Upon
"inquiry of my men there, they said: 'Oh, they all ran
"away. They could not stand the shelling of the pine
"trees.'1 Instead of feeling alarm at being left alone, in
" expectation of a rebel attack, the men of the Third treated
"the running away of that regiment as a joke on them ; and
" seemed to feel perfectly competent to take care of all the
"rebels in the Confederacy. I don't think it occurred to any
" man in the line to leave because others had left. When I
"reported the situation to General Davidson, who was a
"nervous, outspoken Yirginian, a regular army officer, his
" disgust at the conduct of his own men was only equalled by
"his admiration of the conduct of the Third ; and the com-
" pliments he passed upon Yermont troops were too vehement
"to bear repeating. These and other things showed that
1 "My troops formed on the new line well, except the Twentieth New
York, who lost their formation."— Report of General John W. Davidson—
& very mild description of the conduct of the regiment named.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 307
"even at that early day the Vermont troops were highly
"regarded by other commanders."
Jackson's attempt to stampede the rear guard at White
Oak Bridge thus failed. His artillery kept up its firing at
intervals all day ; but his cavalry and skirmishers were driven
back whenever they appeared, and he was compelled to halt
for the day on the north side of the creek, though he was
greatly needed at Glendale, but three miles away to the south-
west, where Longstreet and A. P. Hill were making a desper-
ate effort to cut in two the retreating Union column. Jackson
has been much blamed by writers on both sides for remaining
comparatively quiet all that day, in plain hearing of Long-
street's guns. He said, in his report, that he was " eager to
press forward ;" but that the destruction of the bridge and
the strong position of the enemy prevented his advancing
till next morning. It was the firm front held by Smith's
division which deterred him ; and largely in consequence of
the service thus rendered, the mass of the Army of the Poto-
mac was able to reach Malvern Hill, without serious stoppage
or disaster.
The brigade resumed its march to the James that (Mon-
day) night, about eleven o'clock.1 At that hour General
Smith drew his division out quietly from its lines, without
the knowledge of the enemy, the Confederate pickets being
deceived by false orders, shouted within their hearing by the
Union officers. In this march the Sixth corps moved
by a comparatively unused road, two miles south of the
Quaker road over which the main portion of the army moved.
This road had been explored by a member of General Smith's
staff during the day previous, and found to be practicable.
1 In the official lists of battles and engagements of the Vermont troops,
printed by Adjt. General Washburn in his report for 1866, the date attached
to White Oak Swamp is " June 30th to July 3d." This is partly incorrect.
The brigade moved through White Oak Swamp in the night of the 30th,
and no fighting was done by any troops in White Oak Swamp on the 1st
and 2d of July.
308 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
" The discovery of this road," says General Franklin,1 " made
the concentration of the troops at Malvern Hill a completed
manoeuvre by noon of the 1st of July, and was due to the
fertile brain of General Smith, who ordered the exploration."
" That night," says General D. H. Hill, " Franklin glided
silently by Longstreet and A. P. Hill. He had to pass with-
in easy range of their artillery ; but they did not know he
was there." The troops of Smith's division, exhausted as-
they were by want of rest and food, pushed on through the
night hours, till soon after daylight Tuesday morning their
eyes were gladdened by the sight of the main army, not
retreating but faced about and taking position for a final
stand on the slopes of Malvern Hill.
The route they had come by brought the corps out on
the right of the army, as the lines faced the enemy, and it
was posted on the east and south of the hill, and on the right
of the semicircle of bayonets which encircled Malvern Hill
from Turkey Island Creek on the south round to the James
on the west. The left of Smith's division rested on the
southern side of the hill, with Richardson's division of
Sumner's corps on its left, and Slocum's division on its
right. The men sank in their tracks when finally halted, and
were allowed to sleep for three hours ; when they were again
aroused, and after some changes of position, in the arrange-
ment of the lines, were faced into line of battle for the final
conflict of the seven days of fighting, now gathering on the left
and front. The tides of Confederate valor which surged that
afternoon up the slopes of Malvern Hill, to be swept back by
the resistless fire of the Union artillery and infantry, though
rolling heavily against the left and centre, did not reach the
front of the Vermont brigade, or of any portion of the Sixth
corps ; and the part of the brigade in the victory of Malvern
Hill, was confined to standing wearily in the lines from ten.
1 Century Magazine, Vol. XXX, p. 467.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 309
in the morning till eleven at night. With senses partially
dulled by the exhaustion following the fatigues and excite-
ments of the preceding six days and nights * the men listened
to the thunder of the strife upon their left, and wondered
dreamily what the result was to be. At nine o'clock in the
evening Lee withdrew his shattered divisions, and soon after
General McClellan rode down the lines amid the cheers of
the men, and the cheerful word was passed along that the
enemy had been beaten back at all points with tremendous
slaughter. Yet the night brought little rest for the troops.
Strong as was the position at Malvern Hill and Turkey Bend,
the naval officers decided that the James was not wide
enough there to allow them to protect the supply transports
from attack from the opposite bank, and McClellan ordered
a further withdrawal of the army to Harrison's Landing,
seven miles to the south. Smith's division was to bring up
the rear, and was drawn out from its lines during the night?
moving only enough to prevent sleep for the men. Having
to wait for the other troops to pass, it did not fairly take up
its line of march for Harrison's Landing till nearly dawn.
The division pickets during the day previous had been de-
tailed from the Third Yermont, and at nightfall General
Smith informed Colonel Yeazey of the Third that he was to
hold the picket line during the night with a few cavalry
videttes on the roads in his front. His orders were to stand
fast and fight anything and everything that appeared till the
division had been gone for two hours. He was then to draw
in his men and follow the column, driving up all the strag-
glers, and destroying any abandoned arms found along the
route. It was a responsible duty, and became somewhat
'"In General Smith's division every march [of the Seven Days]
was made at night. The nervous excitement of being under fire every
day for nearly a week, often without an opportunity of returning the
fire, has caused a prostration, from which in many cases the men have not
yet recovered." — General Franklin's Report, July 17th.
310 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
trying in the course of the night, when the cavalry videttes
came tearing in and reported the enemy advancing in force.
This, however, proved to be a false report. The Confederate
generals were, in fact, thinking that night of measures to
protect Richmond, in case McClellan should resume the
offensive, rather than of further pursuit, and the retreat of
the division and of the army was unmolested.
That march from Malvern Hill to Harrison's Landing
was the saddest and weariest march of its length in the his-
tory of the brigade. The rain poured in torrents ; the wagons
and artillery had poached the roads into canals of mud;
the stouter men could hardly drag one foot after another;
and the weaker fell out by hundreds, some to die of ex-
haustion, and others to join the long caravan of stragglers.
Colonel Yeazey, describing this march, says: "No person
" can give any conception of the wake of a retreating army
" after such a campaign in such a country. It simply beg-
gared description. Stragglers sick and dying, arms of
"every description, stores of all kinds, abandoned wagons,
"broken down horses and mules, mud so deep that no bot-
" torn could be reached. All these at every step ; and then
"add the sickening feeling of defeat and retreat, and the
" momentary expectation of a rear attack, and no help within
" reach. Weary, hungry, exhausted, sick, what torment
"could be added, except the loss of honor? Such was our
" dreary march as a rear guard to Harrison's Landing. But
«' fortunately everything has an end; and more dead than
" alive we found the end of that march at last. But it was
" only to find a bivouac in water and mud, without fire or
" rations until the next day ; and even then, early in the
"morning the Third regiment was ordered out to repel an
"attack upon the picket line, and went with scarcely a
"murmur." The Vermont troops marched in better order
than many others; but endurance had nearly reached its
limit, when, in the afternoon of July 2d, they moved through
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 311
the last piece of woods skirting the plateau about Harrison's
Landing, and came out in sight of the river. It was a glad
sight, for its surface was covered with gunboats and trans-
ports, whose presence meant rest and rations. The men
dropped on the soaked ground, at the first halt, and sank to
sleep. The Fourth regiment was sent out that night to-
picket the line in front of the division ; and the rest of the
brigade bivouacked for the night in the mud without food
or fires.1 Next morning a few shells were thrown into
the camp of the division by General "Jeb" Stuart, who
with his cavalry and a light battery had followed on the rear
of the army. He was speedily driven away; but it was
thought best to move the division a short distance to a less
exposed position ; and it went into camp during the forenoon
on Euffin's farm, two miles north of Harrison's Landing.
Here it remained during the six weeks of sickly, dreary and
monotonous camp life, which characterized the stay of the
army at Harrison's Landing.
On the 4th of July — not an altogether cheerful anniver-
sary of the nation's birthday — the brigade was reviewed, with
the division, by General McClellan ; and on the 8th was
again paraded to receive President Lincoln. It was about
dark before he reached the Vermont brigade, which had
been in line, awaiting him, for hours ; but the men had voice
and spirit enough to give him three cheers and a " tiger."
Extensive earthworks were now thrown up to guard
the position ; the woods were slashed and cleared for many
acres in front, and lines of abbatis were constructed. The
camp hospitals were soon overcrowded with sick men. Many
1 " We lost our knapsacks and clothing and tents, and we have to
sleep without any covering at night, in a wet open field, and mud, mud,
up to our knees. If we lie down in it, we can hardly get up again. The
d— n cusses got my prayer-book ; but I don't care for that. May it con-
vert the fellow that got it. The rebel capital must be ours, cost what it
may." — Letter of an Irish soldier, in a Vermont regiment, from Harrison's
Landing.
312 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
died in camp. Hundreds languished in the government hos-
pitals. Other hundreds were discharged with broken con-
stitutions. Many received leaves of absence and went home
to recruit their health. The rest remained and made their
condition as tolerable as possible, by digging wells to give
them better water than that of the streams and swamps, and
providing shades of pine trees for their shelter tents. So
they patiently awaited the next movement.
General McClellan, having been heavily reinforced, was
now contemplating, among other things, a crossing of the
James and a fresh movement on Richmond by the way of
Petersburg, when he was ordered by the authorities at Wash-
ington to withdraw from the Peninsula, and to come up near
Washington to co-operate with General Pope's command.
The army thereupon marched to Fortress Monroe, whence it
was to be taken by water to Alexandria. The Sixth corps
remained in its lines at Harrison's Landing for two days
after the movement commenced, while the rest of the army,
with a wagon train twenty-five miles long, was filing out for
the march down the Peninsula, and then brought up the rear.1
In this march the Yermont brigade started with Smith's
division, on the 16th of August, with six days cooked rations;
bivouacked near Charles City Court House that night, and
after two pretty hard days march in the hot sun reached the
Chickahominy about sundown of the 17th. It crossed at
Barrett's Perry, a mile above its mouth, by the long pon-
toon bridge over which the army had been streaming
for two days, and halted for the night on the left bank.
Another day's march, still under a burning sun, brought the
division to Williamsburg, once the capital of the Old
Dominion. Passing through its street, past the old build-
ings of William and Mary College at one end, and the ruins
of the old capitol at the other, the division halted for the
1 " It was forty-five hours after the first team passed, till our brigade,
next to the last, passed out."— Colonel Whiting's Statement.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 313
night on the battlefield of three months before. The next
day's march brought it to Yorktown, where it encamped near
the York river on the lines which Porter's division had
fortified during the thirty days siege. Another clear, hot,
dusty day, during which many tired men fell out of the
ranks, and the brigade reached Big Bethel. Another hard
march on the 21st, brought the brigade back, after five
months absence, to the vicinity of the desolated village of
Hampton, and the next day, after seven hours of waiting on
the beach of Fortress Monroe, the brigade embarked on
transports with the Sixth corps, and steamed for Alexandria.
The voyage up the river was a pleasant change, in spite of
the crowded condition of the transports. The tired men
became rested ; the health of the command had improved
on the march down the Peninsula, under the addition of
fruit, principally of green plums and peaches, to their army
diet ; and while their thin and bronzed faces and ragged
clothing told of hard service, and the campaign had left
little of the exultant feeling with which they entered upon it
five months before, the spirit of the Vermonters was good.
They were conscious that they had fought well, in advance
and in retreat, and that no part of the reverses of the army
could be laid at their door ; and they were about as ready
as ever to march or fight, when the order should come,
though they understood better than before what marching
and fighting meant. The brigade disembarked at Alexandria
in the afternoon of Sunday, August 24th, marched through
the city to a field a mile to the west, near Fort Ellsworth,
and remained there till August 29th.
CHAPTEE XIH.
THE FIRST BRIGADE— CONTINUED.
The situation, September 1, 1862— The part of the Sixth corps in Pope's
Campaign — The march into Maryland — Storming of Crampton's Gap—
Brillant action of the Fourth Vermont — The battle of Antietam— Part
taken by the Vermont Brigade — A quiet time at Hagerstown — Stuart's
second raid — Accession of the Twenty-Sixth New Jersey to the brigade
— Retirement of General Brooks from the command — Return to Vir-
ginia— Changes of army, corps, division and brigade commanders —
McClellan's farewell review — March to the Rappahannock — Burnside's
bloody failure — Howe's division and the Vermont brigade at the First
Fredericksburg — Casualties of the brigade — Winter quarters at White
Oak Church — Burnside's mud campaign and retirement from command.
A glance at the general situation throughout the field of
war, as affairs stood on the 1st of September, 1862, will show
that important changes had taken place in the past three
months, and that the outlook for the Union cause was not
satisfactory.
At the west the siege of Yicksburg had been abandoned,
and the Confederates were conducting an offensive campaign
in Tennessee and Kentucky. At the east, the campaign
against Kichmond had failed ; McClellan had lost the con-
fidence of the administration and had been virtually reduced
to a subordinate position. General Halleck had been brought
from the west and made general in chief of the army to direct
operations from his headquarters at Washington, generally
to the obstruction and disgust of the generals in the field.
The fragmentary commands of McDowell, Banks and Sigel
had been consolidated into the "Army of Virginia." Of
this, General Pope had assumed command, handicapped by
his presumptuous announcements that he had come to
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 315
introduce the ways of the west, where they did not bother
their heads about lines of retreat or bases of supply, and
that his headquarters were to be in the saddle ; and by
the disaffection of many of his subordinate generals. He
had, with commendable activity, made menacing demonstra-
tions along the Eapidan, which had kept Lee from interfering
with McClellan while he was withdrawing the army of the
Potomac from the Peninsula — if indeed the Confederate
commander cared to prevent that withdrawal.
General Banks had fought the sanguinary, unnecessary
and inconsequential battle of Cedar Mountain — achieving a
technical victory, but failing to cripple Jackson or to prevent
his joining Lee. Lee, all menace to Eichmond from the
south removed by the departure of McClellan, was arranging
to strike and destroy Pope before he should be reinforced
from McClellan's army. Pope, perceiving Lee's design, had
withdrawn to the Kappahannock, defending the fords with
his artillery for two days during which the force in his front
was hourly increasing, and had then fallen back, with almost
constant fighting and an infinite amount of marching and
manoeuvring, to Gainesville. Here the battle known by that
name was fought on the 29th ; and the next day the second
disastrous Battle of Bull Eun, which finished Pope's cam-»
paign and career as an army commander, took place on the
plains of Manassas. The questions, still mooted after con-
stant discussion for twenty years, who was chiefly responsible
for Pope's defeat ; whether or not Fitz John Porter was to
blame for rendering such tardy and ineffective assistance
to General Pope ; why the two corps of Franklin and Sumner,
comprising 20,000 or 30,000 of the best fighting material
in the Union army, were held within hearing of the battle of
the 29th and 30th without rendering any effective assistance,
and how much McClellan meant by his suggestion to the
President to " leave Pope to get out of his scrape," need not
be debated here.
316 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
It will be enough to remember that the commander of
the Sixth corps was a loyal lieutenant to McClellan ; and that
while he was perhaps in no more of a hurry to move than
the latter was to have him, he would undoubtedly have
gone, if he had been sent. That the corps had no part
in the fighting and did nothing of importance to arrest the
national disaster of the second Bull Run was certainly not
the fault of the troops, so far at least as the Vermonters were
concerned. They heard the booming of the cannon coming
nearer day by day. They saw the stragglers coming in and
heard their stories of terrible fighting beyond Manassas.
They packed knapsacks and hourly expected to move, and
they wondered sorely as time went on, why they were not
ordered forward. On Wednesday, after General Halleck had
telegraphed that Franklin must move out " at once by forced
marches," the men of the corps were ordered to have three
days rations in their haversacks ; but they received no further
order. On Thursday, again the order was to be ready with
two days rations, and they were ready; but sunset came
without any order to march. On Friday, while Pope was
fighting at Gainesville, Franklin started ; but halted and camp-
ed at Annandale, after a march of seven miles. On Saturday,
while the desperate and bloody Second Bull Eun was in
progress within plain hearing, the corps moved on, making
scarce a mile an hour, through Fairfax Court House to
Centreville, and thence to Cub Eun, meeting by the way
toward nightfall, wounded men and stragglers and paroled
prisoners streaming in by hundreds. General Pope's army
was then in full, though not disorderly retreat ; and his rear
guard, of Sykes's division, was making the stout and final
stand to cover the withdrawal of the main body across Bull
Eun, as Sykes with his battalion of regulars and the Second
Vermont stood on Bald Hill, to cover McDowell's army,
thirteen months before.
At nightfall the issue of the battle in front being known,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 317
Franklin moved the Sixth corps back to Centreville, where it
lay through the next day, a rainy and gloomy Sunday. On
Monday evening it retired to Fairfax Court House. Early
the next morning it returned toward Centreville, and lay in
line of battle on the heights till three p. M., expecting an
attack, which did not come. It then started for Alexandria,
the Vermont brigade bringing up the rear, and reached camp
near Fort Ellsworth and Fairfax Seminary, between nine
and ten o'clock that evening, having covered in seven hours
the distance which it used fifty hours in traversing when going,
out. While on this march, a little before dark, the sound
of the fight at Chantilly — a sequel of the Second Bull Run
in which the gallant General Philip Kearney and General
Israel Stevens, who commanded the Vermont troops in the
first reconnoisance to Lewinsville, Va., a year before, were
killed — was heard a short distance to the rear ; but it did not
interrupt the march. The brigade remained in camp near
Alexandria three days, and then started with the corps on
the first campaign in Maryland.
The first week of September, 1862, was one of active re-
organization in the army around Washington. Pope's luckless
campaign had ended, and his army and the Army of the
Potomac were united within the defenses of Washington.
Pope had resigned and General McClellan had been reinstated
in the command, to the relief and delight of the army. Gen-
eral Banks, with three army corps, was placed in command
of the defences of Washington, and McClellan with five corps,
of which the Sixth was one, marched slowly up the Potomac,
disposing his army so as to cover both Washington and
Baltimore. Lee had disappeared from the front of Washing-
ton, and, as it was soon discovered, was marching to the north
on his first invasion of a northern State.
On Saturday, the 6th of September, the brigade broke
camp and marched across Long Bridge, through Washington
and Georgetown, to Tenallytown, three miles north of George-
318 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
town, where the Sixth corps halted that night. Next day,
the brigade lay in the woods all day till evening, when it
marched three or four miles to the north towards Kockville,
Md., where McClellan's headquarters were that night. In
the next three days it moved through Eockville and Darnes-
town to Barnesville, Md. Here, at the foot of Sugar Loaf
Mountain, on the llth, distinct proof of the presence of the
enemy in the vicinity was afforded by a skirmish in front
with a reconnoitring force of Confederate cavalry and in-
fantry, which retired before the Union advance. The brigade
was ordered into line but was not engaged. Next day the
brigade marched over the mountain and camped that night
near the Baltimore & Ohio E. E. On the 13th, it moved to
Adamstown, on the railroad, eight miles south of Frederick
City.
That day a copy of an important order issued by General
Lee, which had been by a piece of rare good fortune found
in the abandoned camp of General D. H. Hill, near that city,
was placed in McClellan's hands. This told the Federal
commander that Lee had divided his army, and sent four
divisions under Generals Jackson and McLaws, to surround
and capture the Federal garrison of 11,000 men, under Col-
onel Miles, at Harper's Ferry.1 McClellan thereupon des-
patched Franklin, whose corps was on the left of his army,
with directions to pass over the South Mountain through
Crampton's Gap, cut off McLaws — who was marching down
upon Harper's Ferry from the Maryland side, while Jackson,
crossing the Potomac, approached it from the "Virginia side —
and relieve Miles. This was clearly the thing to be done.
Unfortunately it was not done quickly enough. Had Mc-
Clellan started Franklin (whose corps lay near Buckeyston)
1 ' ' The God of battles alone knows what would have occurred but for
that singular accident. Certainly the loss of this battle-order constitutes
one of the pivots on which turned the event of the war."— Colonel W. H.
Taylor, C. S. A., in " Four years with General Lee."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 319
that night, Franklin could have reached the mountain by
midnight, moved through the pass the next morning, relieved
Harper's Ferry, and made much trouble for McLaws. Two
other corps, making a night march, such as Jackson was mak-
ing, to Turner's Gap, six miles north of Crampton's, that
night, could the next day have placed themselves between
the wings of Lee's army. If Lee had not learned to count
on McClellan's tardiness, he would never have taken so peril-
ous a risk. He took it, as the event proved, with impunity.
McClellan, it is true, at once ordered General Franklin
to move ; but he did not order him to move at once. The
order was "to move at daybreak next morning." He was
directed to carry the pass of Crampton's Gap ; move through
it on to the Rohrersville road in Pleasant Valley, where
he would be over against Maryland Heights, and within
five miles of Harper's Ferry ; cut off and destroy McLaws,
relieve Miles, add Miles's disposable troops to the Sixth
corps, and then occupy a position to prevent the return of
Jackson to Lee. "My general plan," said McClellan to
Franklin, " is to cut the enemy in two and beat him in detail.
I ask of you all your intellect and the utmost activity that a
general can exercise." The plan was good, the injunction
admirable; but the activity was to begm the next day,
whereas Jackson and McLaws were active through that night.
They thus gained the decisive hours which McClellan and
Franklin lost. Franklin marched at daylight. Pushing
ahead rapidly he reached Burkittsville, at the opening of the
Gap, about noon, and during the afternoon stormed and
carried the pass, in spite of the stout opposition of General
Howell Cobb, who with three brigades — his own, Semmes's
and Mahone's — had been detached by General McLaws to
hold the pass. This engagement and that at Turner's Gap
to the north, which was carried by the First and Ninth corps
at the same time, having a common object and occurring on
320 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the same day, though separated by five miles of mountain
ridge, are known in history as the Battle of South Mountain.
In the storming of Crampton's Gap, the Vermont brigade
had a prominent part, to be now related.
CKAMPTON'S GAP.
The village of Burkittsville, a thriving Maryland village
of a single street half a mile long, lies at the eastern foot of
the South Mountain range. This is there divided by a
narrow defile, through which winds the main road across
the Mountain, bearing to the north and rising sharply as
soon as it leaves the village. A country road comes into
the main road from the north, at right angles, half way up
the slope at the entrance of the defile. This road with its-
stone fences afforded an admirable line of defence. Cross
roads, meeting in the throat of the defile, offered additional
facilities for posting troops and artillery. The sides of the
gorge were wooded, and the steep ascents and rocky ledges
afforded remarkable advantages to the defenders of the pass.
Of these, General Cobb had taken full advantage. Eight
guns were posted by him in the roads and on the sides and
rounded summit of the crest, commanding the approaches to
the pass. Cobb's orders from his superior were to "hold the
Gap if he lost his last man in doing it."1 But he did not
hold it, though he lost almost a third of his command.
Franklin made his dispositions for the assault with ex-
cellent judgment. The attack was commenced about three
o'clock in the afternoon by Slocum's division, while Ayres's
and Wolcott's batteries replied to the Confederate guns.
Slocum's first line, consisting of Bartlett's brigade, advanced
through the village, driving out the enemy's skirmishers, and
up the ascent on the right of the main road, till brought to
a stand in front of the stone wall on the right, which was
1 General McLaws's report.
THE FIRST BRIGADE.
321
lined with several Georgia regiments. These kept up a
severe fire, while other Confederate troops opened a cross
fire from the left, which threatened to compel Bartlett to
retire. The other two brigades of Slocum's division (New-
ton's and Torbert's) were accordingly ordered forward to sup-
port Bartlett, while to the Vermont brigade was committed
Engagement at Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862.
the important task of carrying the enemy's position on the
left by direct assault, and dislodging him from the woods
on Slocum's flank. Brooks sent forward the Fourth Ver-
mont, Lieut. Colonel Stoughton, and the Second, Major
Walbridge, in two lines, the ground not admitting a wider
front than that of a regiment, and held the rest of his
21
322 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
brigade for support, in the edge of the village. Cheered .
on as they passed through the street by a number of loyal
women who had not left their homes in the village, the
two regiments deployed under a plunging artillery fire
from the heights they were to scale. The Fourth moved
steadily up the ascent in face of sharp musketry firing from
behind a stone fence in front, and dashed squarely at this,
driving the Confederates from it, and taking twenty prisoners
who had sought shelter behind a haystack. It was followed
closely by the Second, and both regiments pushed on up the
rocky side of the mountain, climbing the ledges and struggling
through the bushes, till they reached the crest. Here the
Fourth was sent to the left, to attack the battery whose fire
from the summit had been so annoying, while the Second kept
on over the crest and down the opposite side of the moun-
tain. The Sixth Yirginia, Major Holliday, was cut off from
the rest of Mahone's brigade by the promptness of the move-
ment, and Major Holliday with five commissioned officers and
115 men surrendered to Colonel Stoughton on the crest.
Leaving two companies to guard the prisoners, Stoughton
went after the battery ; but before he could reach it, it had
limbered up and made its escape by a wood road leading
down the mountain. The Second regiment pressed on after
the flying enemy to the base of the mountain, as Slocum, re-
lieved by Brook's movement from resistance on his flank*
gallantly carried the position on the right of the road. Thus
driven from his positions on right and left, the enemy fell
back through the defile and down the mountain in great con-
fusion. The way through the Gap being left clear by these
operations, the Third, Fifth and Sixth regiments followed
the other two regiments by the road, without opposition.
Perceiving how things were going in the Gap, General
Cobb sent forward his reserve on the double quick ; but it
arrived only in time to participate in the rout ; and his entire
command, less some 700 men killed, wounded and captured,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 323
made a rapid retreat, till he was halted in the Yalley, by
General McLaws, who had been hurrying up with Wilcox's
brigade from Maryland Heights but only arrived in time to
cover Cobb's retreat.
At the base of the mountain the skirmishers of the Ver-
mont brigade found a 12-lb. howitzer, partially disabled, and
brought it in, with the horses attached to it. McLaws
rallied the retreating Confederates, and with what was left
of Cobb, Semmes and Mahone, and other troops of his
division, formed a defensive line across Pleasant Yalley
a mile and a half below the Gap ; while Franklin halted
at the western foot of it.
In this affair, which the Comte de Paris calls the " bril-
liant combat of Crampton's Gap", Franklin lost 110 offi-
cers and men killed, and 420 wounded, the severest loss
being in Bartlett's brigade. The promptness and unexpected
character of the movement of the Vermont regiments saved
them from serious loss, and the Fourth Vermont had but one
man killed and 14 wounded ; the Second Vermont five men
wounded ; and the Sixth Vermont one officer, Captain Barney,
and two men wounded ; total, 23. General Franklin states
that he buried 150 of the enemy and took charge of over 300
of their wounded left on the field ; and that he captured in all
400 prisoners, from 17 different organizations, with one piece
of artillery, 700 muskets and three stands of colors. General
McLaws says in his report: "The loss in the brigades
engaged was, in killed, wounded and missing, very large,
and the remnant collected to make front across the valley,
very small ;" and a month later he speaks of Cobb's, Semmes's
and Mahone's brigades as having been "badly crippled at
Crampton's Gap."
The other results of this success were by no means what
they might have been. It was perhaps too near dark when
the Gap was carried, to have accomplished much more that
night ; but in the evening Franklin was joined by Couch's divi-
324 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
sion of the Fourth corps, giving him a force decidedly superior
to that of McLaws ; and had he attacked the latter at day-
light he might even then have prevented the fall of Harper's
Ferry, or if that were not possible could have offset the loss
of Miles's command by the destruction or capture of Mc-
Laws's. But though McClellan had sent him distinct orders
during the night to attack and destroy such of the enemy as
he found before him in Pleasant Yalley, and if possible to
relieve Miles, Franklin did nothing on the 15th. At half-past
eight o'clock that morning the white flag was raised by Miles
at Harper's Ferry ; but the surrender was not complete till
an hour later. At nine o'clock, Colonel Stannard and the
Ninth Vermont, of the garrison, were still seeking for a
chance to cut their way out, while three strong Union divi-
sions had been standing since daylight in Pleasant Yalley,
but six miles away, in full hearing of Jackson's artillery.
The cessation of the cannonading, and the cheering of the
Confederates on Maryland Heights, told these, about nine
o'clock, that Harper's Ferry had surrendered.
Franklin did nothing that day* but to move down the
Valley a mile or two, and occupy the Brownsville Gap, a
mile below Crampton's, to which the Sixth Maine and the
left wing of the Fourth Vermont, under Major Foster, were
sent in the morning. These drove back the enemy's pickets
and guarded the lower pass for that day and night. During
the day Franklin received directions from McClellan, after
the latter had learned of Miles's surrender, to remain where
he was and "watch the large force in front" of him. But
the watch maintained by Franklin did not prevent McLaws
from withdrawing his division across the Potomac that day,
or from marching the next night to join Lee on the battle-
field of the Antietam.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 325
ANTIETAM.
During the first day of this battle, a terribly hot day, the
Vermont brigade lay, with the rest of Franklin's command,
in Pleasant Valley, listening to the booming of artillery which
came from the northwest, over the mountain ridge in front,
beginning in the forenoon, and increasing heavily the latter
part of the afternoon, as Hooker with the First corps moved
across the Antietam and attacked the left of Lee's line in
front of Sharpsburg.
The next day was the main day of the battle. The story
ot it has been admirably told by Colonel Palfrey of Massa-
chusetts, and other historians ; and only a few
Sept. 17, 1862. J
of the more important points of it need be
noted here. The opposing armies numbered, in round num-
bers, 40,000 under Lee, and 80,000 under McClellan. Lee
used every man he could bring into line.1 McClellan fought
the battle with 50,000 men — two corps, numbering 30,000,
being hardly used at all by him. Lee fought a defensive
battle, greatly favored by the strength of his position, in
which his flanks were protected by the bends of the Potomac
and his front covered by the stream and valley of the
Antietam. On McClellan's part, the fighting was not the
simultaneous assault which he had planned, and which would
probably have made his victory far more decisive; but a
series of attacks bravely, often desperately, made, yet with
such want of concert between the several corps that Lee,
having the inner side of the curve, was able to reinforce in
turn his hardly pressed lines at the points where they were
assailed, and to prevent a serious break in them anywhere.
The battle was opened on the right, as soon as the early
morning mists had risen, by Hooker, who had crossed the
Antietam and had done some indecisive fighting the afternoon
1 "Every man was engaged— we had no reserve." — Colonel Walter H.
Taylor, of Lee's staff.
326 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
before. He was now opposed by Jackson's two divisions
• — his own "Stonewall" division and Swell's — with six bat-
teries, aided later by several batteries and brigades of other
divisions. It was Greek meeting Greek, and the carnage was
terrible on each side. In the words of Colonel Palfrey, "the
two lines almost tore each other to pieces." The contest
raged most hotly around a certain cornfield on the east side
of the Hagerstown pike, and the woods between it and the
Dunker chapel. Over this part of the field the tides of
battle swept to and fro in successive waves. Before nine
o'clock, Hooker had been wounded and his corps cut pretty
much to pieces, and it had been reinforced and its place sub-
stantially taken by the Twelfth corps, whose commander,
General Mansfield, was killed as he was deploying his lines.
In the course of an hour or two of bloody fighting the
Twelfth corps, though it gained some ground, had been
brought to a stand; and Sumner advanced to relieve it
with the Second corps. Sedgwick's division led the assault,
and swept forward over the cornfield. He was attacked
in turn by Jackson and McLaws with ten Confederate brig-
ades, and driven back with frightful loss. The other two
divisions of the corps, French's and Richardson's, had mean-
time become engaged and suffered severely — the latter losing
its gallant comAander, General Israel B. Richardson — one
of Vermont's bravest sons and one of the best soldiers in the
army — mortally wounded. Three of the six corps of Mc-
Clellan's army had thus in turn attacked on the right ; but
while inflicting tremendous losses upon the enemy they had
failed to permanently dislodge Lee's left ; and at noon were
merely holding their own.
In the next and last stage of the battle on the right,
Franklin's corps, and Smith's division, and the Yermont
brigade, took part.
To go back to the morning and to Pleasant Valley, Gen-
eral Franklin, first sending Couch's division to Harper's Ferry
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 327
to lock the stable door after the horse had been stolen, start-
ed at half past five A. M., under McClellan's orders, toward the
battlefield, six miles away. Smith's division led the column,
and arrived on the field a little before ten o'clock. It took
position at first in a piece of woods on the left of the stone
bridge, known as the " Burnside Bridge," to the left of the
centre of McClellan's line. It was soon hurried farther on,
and across the river and round to the right to the assistance
of Sumner. The time was a critical one. Sedgwick had made
a gallant advance ; but being unsupported on either right or
left and taken on each flank and even in the rear by superior
numbers massed against him, had narrowly escaped utter
annihilation. Sumner's other two divisions had attacked
the Confederate centre ; but striking it at some distance
to the left of Sedgwick, had not made any effective diversion
in his favor, or secured any important advantage, though they
had done some severe fighting. Eichardson and Crawford
had fallen. Sedgwick had been thrice wounded and obliged
to leave the field. His division had partially given way, with
a loss of over 2,500 men, and Jackson was preparing to push
his advantage by striking again his undefended left flank,
when Smith came to his relief. Smith's leading brigade,
Hancock's, approached within canister distance of the enemy,
broke the lines and silenced the Confederate batteries in
front of it, and held its ground. Brooks's Vermont brigade
came next, and was at first hurried to Sumner's right ; but
was presently brought back to the assistance of French's
division. Smith's third brigade, Irwin's, was placed by him
on the left of Hancock's, and advanced, driving back the
opposing lines, till it came abreast of the Dunker Church,
which marked the line of Sumner's advance. The Vermont
brigade was sent to the left of Irwin, where it joined on to
the right of French, whose division, thus reinforced, filled the
gap through which McLaws and Early had previously
pressed, to Sedgwick's sorrow. Smith intended that the
328 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Vermont brigade should support Irwin, in his advanced posi-
tion, and had such support been rendered, a decisive ad-
vantage might have been gained at that point. Brooks, how-
ever, had been withdrawn by Sumner1 and posted, with a
portion of French's command, behind a low crest. The
brigade made a handsome advance and came under a sharp
fire of artillery, as it moved into position on French's right ;
but the enemy's lines in its front having fallen back, it had
little fighting to do and suffered comparatively little loss.3
The Vermont regiments stood in line all that afternoon, while
Burnside with the Ninth corps, after hours of most unfortu-
nate and unaccountable delay, was forcing the passage of the
stone bridge, and making the final indecisive assault on Lee's
right. Night fell on them, in this position. The ground in
front of McClellan's right and centre was so much fought over
by different brigades and divisions that it has been found
difficult to locate beyond dispute the point reached by
Brooks's brigade. But it advanced in line of battle over a
cornfield, strewn with dead — and there is little doubt that it
was "the historic cornfield" of Antietam. Mr. George W
Smalley, the N. Y. Tribune's army correspondent, writing from
1 General Smith complains of this warmly, in his report, saying : "It
is not the first or the second time during a battle that my command has
been dispersed by orders from an officer superior in rank to the general
commanding this corps, and I must assert that I have never known any
good to arise from such a method of fighting a battle, and think the con-
trary rule should be adopted of keeping commands intact." The first
time probably was at Williamsburg, when Sumner refused to let Smith
send his second and third brigades to join Hancock ; and the second at
Savage's Station, where the division was divided and sent in on the two
extremes of Sumner's line.
2 " The Vermont brigade was sent to the assistance of French's divi-
sion, who having expended their ammunition, were making feeble resistance
to the enemy. The Vermonters behaved with their usual gallantry, resisting
the advance of the enemy, and although frequently subjected to the fire of
artillery, they held their ground bravely. The brigade was composed of
men who could always be depended on to do what they were ordered to
do." — Three Tears in the Sixth Corps.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 329
the field, says : "At this crisis, when all we had gained upon
our right had been wrested from us, Franklin came up with
fresh troops. * * * Smith was ordered to retake the
cornfields and woods which had been so hotly contested. It
was done in the handsomest style. His Maine and Vermont
regiments and the rest went forward on the run, and, cheer-
ing as they went, swept like an avalanche through the corn-
field, fell upon the woods, cleared them in ten minutes, and
held them. They were not again retaken. The field and its
ghastly harvest remained finally with us. Four times it had
been lost and won. The dead are strewn so thickly that as
you ride over it you cannot guide your horse's steps too
carefully. * * * Smith's attack was so sudden that his
success was accomplished with no great loss."
The loss in the Vermont brigade was indeed surprisingly
small, aggregating but 25 killed and wounded. The Second
Vermont had five men wounded. The Third, one officer and
three men wounded. The Fourth, one man killed and five
wounded. The Fifth, two men wounded; and the Sixth,
eight men wounded. This though the men were for some
time under what General Brooks — who does not use big
words — calls "a galling fire of both artillery and sharp-
shooters ;" but they were kept close to the ground when not
moving, and the shell and grape flew over them without doing
much damage. General Brooks himself would not lie down,
but moved to and fro on foot along his lines, a constant
mark for the enemy's sharpshooters. In the course of the
afternoon a bullet struck him in the mouth, knocking out
two teeth. A man ran to him and asked if he was wounded.
"No," replied the gruff old soldier, spitting out a molar,
"had a tooth pulled." Though in serious pain, he did not
leave the lines till after dark.
At sundown the roar of battle ceased, and the heated
cannon were allowed to cool, and the wounded were gathered
from the field and the unwounded sought food and rest.
330 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
"The blessed night came and brought with it sleep and re-
freshment to many; but the murmur of the night wind
breathing over fields of wheat and clover, was mingled with
the groans of the countless sufferers of both armies." * All
that night the Vermonters lay on their arms in the front line.
They had little sleep, for the skirmishers in front were firing
at every moving form, and they fully expected a renewal of
the battle in the morning. They remained all the next day in
the same place, while burying parties, under a flag of truce
asked for by Lee, were burying the dead. In not renewing
the contest on Thursday morning General McClellan made
the mistake of his life-time. He had lost 11,500 men killed
and wounded and 1,000 missing; but he had inflicted equal
or greater loss on the enemy ; and Lee could far less afford
the loss. McClellan had two corps substantially intact. He
had over 60,000 men upon the ground against 30,000 — the
latter the more hardly marched and fought, and most ex-
hausted. He waited a day and night, during which Hum-
phrey's and Couch's divisions arrived, and then gave orders
to attack at daylight on the 19th ; but at daylight Lee was
gone. His invasion of the North had come to an end, on the
very banks of the Potomac ; and he postponed to a later day
the assistance to the people of Maryland in throwing off "the
foreign yoke" of the national government, which, on his
entrance of the State, he had proclaimed his purpose to
render. On the 19th, the Sixth corps moved forward over
the field, on which hundreds of dead still lay blackening
in the sun and tainting all the air with sickening stench,
through the streets of Sharpsburg, filled with disabled
wagons and strewn with knapsacks and guns, past houses
riddled by shell and churches filled with rebel wounded ; and
bivouacked for the night between the village and the Poto-
mac. Next day, marching back through Sharpsburg and
Colonel Palfrey.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 331
again over the battlefield, it turned to the north and moved
up the river, twelve miles, to Williamsport.
On the 23d, the Sixth corps moved out to Bakersville on
the Hagerstown pike, and thence on the 26th to Hagerstown.
Here it remained a month, while McClellan was reorganizing
his army and Lee was holding the Shenandoah Valley and
destroying railroads in that region. General Brooks was ap-
pointed military governor of Hagerstown — a thriving city of
5,000 inhabitants — and his regiments did duty as provost
guard.
It was a quiet time at Hagerstown. No enemy was
near. The inhabitants of the region were at least nominally
friendly, and had plenty of poultry and fresh vegetables to
sell. The camps were pleasant. No weary searches at the
end of hard marches were needed to find wood and water.
The men resumed their long interrupted occupations of
drilling and loafing, the latter varied by earnest discussions
of the probable effect of the Emancipation Proclamation,
just issued by President Lincoln, to take effect on the first of
January following.
On the 10th of October, the army received a sensation,
from Stuart's second raid. Lee, as much puzzled as the
authorities at Washington to divine what was keeping the
Army of the Potomac so long in Maryland, sent out Stuart
with 1,500 cavalry, and orders to "ascertain the position and
designs of the enemy." He crossed the Potomac above
"Williamsport, penetrated to Chambersburg, Pa., where he
destroyed a good deal of government property; and while
General McClellan was telegraphing to Washington that none
of the rebels should return to Virginia, and was sending
troops here and there in Maryland to points where Stuart
had been, the latter completed his second ride entirely round
the Union army, and returned to Virginia, well supplied with
new clothing and shoes, and with fresh horses found in the
stables of the Pennsylvania farmers. During the stir oc-
332 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
casioned by this episode the Second and Fifth regiments
were hastily loaded into cars and sent to Chambersburg on
the llth. But Stuart had departed before they started, and
they returned to Hagerstown on the 16th.
While in camp at Hagerstown, the Yermont brigade
received an accession of 250 recruits, sent down from Ver-
mont ; and the Twenty-sixth New Jersey, Colonel Morrison,
a new nine months regiment, 1,000 strong, was attached
to the brigade — the first and only mixture of troops of any
other State, during its existence. The Jerseymen were not
altogether a congenial element in the brigade; but they
looked up to the Yermonters as veterans, and profited by
their association with them.1
At Hagerstown the brigade lost by his promotion the
blunt, brave and trusty commander, under whom it had thus
far marched and fought, and to whose soldierly example and
instruction its officers and men owed so much. General
Brooks was assigned to the command of the First division of
the Sixth corps, upon General Slocum's appointment to the
command of the Twelfth corps, and took his leave of the
brigade with mutual reluctance and respect, which found
1 " We were emphatically a green regiment," says an officer of the
Twenty-sixth New Jersey, quoted in New Jersey in the Rebellion, p. 540,
" when we entered on active service. But we had one great advantage. We
were brigaded with veterans, and with veterans, too, who had won a high
reputation in the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. Their example was
our real teacher in the Art of War." The lessons taught the Jerseymen
were not confined to the art of war. On one occasion, some men of the
Second Vermont, having repeatedly lost some of their fresh meat, which
they had reason to believe went into the camp of the Twenty-sixth New
Jersey, killed and dressed Colonel Morrison's fat New Foundland dog and
hung his carcass in the quartermaster's store tent. As they expected, it
was purloined that night by some of the New Jersey boys, who took it for
fat mutton. The Vermonters were on the watch, tracked the dog-meat
into the camp of the Twenty-sixth, and ascertained that it was served next
day on the tables of several messes of the New Jersey officers. Of course
the story soon ran through the brigade, and the New Jersey boys visiting
the other camps for some time after were greeted with numerous bow wows
"by way of friendly salutation.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 333
expression on the part of General Brooks, in the following
general order :
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, |
Smith's Division, Oct. 21, 1862. j
The brigadier general commanding this brigade hereby relinquishes its
command. In thus terminating an official connection which has existed
for precisely a year, the general commanding experiences much regret.
He is not unmindful that his own reputation has been identified with and
dependent upon that of those who have served under him ; and it is with
great gratification that he thanks them for the noble manner in which they
have sustained him, in the performance of his arduous duties in camp and
field. He will watch their future career with deep interest, and trusts he
will ever have occasion to feel proud that his name has been associated
with the Vermont brigade.
By order of Brig. General Brooks.
THEODORE READ, Captain and A. A. G.
A meeting of the officers of the brigade was held to
arrange to present to General Brooks a testimonial of their
regard. It was proposed among other things that a fine
horse and equipments be purchased for him. An officer rose
and said it was very well to talk about buying a horse for
General Brooks ; but he would like to know who was bold
enough to undertake the task of presenting it to him. It
was thereupon suggested that the horse might be fastened in
front of the general's quarters at night, with a note attached
to the bridle, stating for whom it was designed and from
whom it came. A beautiful table service of solid silver was
subsequently procured by the officers of the brigade and pre-
sented to the general, who received it with tears standing on
his cheeks and a voice too much choked by emotion to permit
him to make formal reply.1
1 General Brooks resigned from the army, July 14, 1864. He resided
in Hunts ville, Ala., after the close of the war, and died there in 1870. He
always retained and often expressed his high opinion of the Vermont troops,
and he is remembered with respect and affection by all who served under
him. He was alluded to, by a speaker, at one of the army reunions, as
"the author, foander and finisher of the Old Brigade," and the Reunion
Society of Vermont Officers, at its meeting in 1872, adopted resolutions of
high respect for his memory, declaring that the reputation of the First
334 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The ostensible and to some extent real cause of the delay
of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, for six weeks after
Lee had returned to Virginia, was lack of supplies of clothing
and shoes. But as the needs of the Sixth corps, which were
as great as those of any part of the army, were not supplied
in these respects when they finally marched, it was plain
that the army could have moved in its old clothing. The
Vermont brigade especially was much in need of undercloth-
ing, overcoats and blankets.
At last, in the last week of October, the army began to
move ,the advance crossing the Potomac on the 26th. On the
28th, the Sixth co$ps received marching orders ; and on the
29th broke camp and moved to Williamsport, camping for the
night in the oak groves where it had camped five weeks
before. Next day it marched down through Boonsboro to
Pleasant Valley, and the next filed through Crampton's Gap
and Burkittsville, halting and spending Sunday, November
1st, in a charming valley near Berlin, Md. Here the next
morning it crossed the Potomac on pontoon bridges, marched
through Lovettsville, and on to the south along the base of
the Blue Eidge, and then across the Valley to White Plains
east of Thoroughfare Gap, where it remained during a storm
of sleet and snow, which lasted all day of the 7th, and the 8th.
On the 9th, it moved to New Baltimore on the Warrenton
pike, in the southernmost gap of the Bull Eun Mountains,
the general headquarters of the army being at Warrenton.
Here the corps and the army rested a week, during which
important changes in the commands of both took place.
General McClellan, the popular idol of 1861, and still the
idol of most of the army, was relieved of the command, and
was succeeded by General Burnside. The army was divided
into three grand divisions. Franklin was appointed to the
Vermont brigade "was largely the fruit of the vigorous instruction, the
impartial discipline, the soldierly example, and the inspiring patriotism of
General Brooks."
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 335
command of the Left Grand Division, and Sumner and
Hooker to the commands of the other two grand divisions.
Maj. General William F. Smith succeeded Franklin in the
command of the Sixth corps, and Brig. General A. P. Howe
was appointed to the command of the Second division, of
which the Vermont brigade was a part — General Brooks
remaining in command of the First division. Colonel
Whiting of the Second Vermont, the ranking colonel of the
Vermont brigade, succeeded to the command thereof, on the
promotion of General Brooks.
None of these changes were particularly gratifying at
the time to the Vermont troops. In common with a large
portion of the army, they as a body retained confidence in
General McClellan (though some of the best soldiers in the
brigade had ceased to share it,) and somehow could not feel
it to be a serious crime that he had not marched them harder
and fought them more desperately. They knew nothing of
the neglect, not to say disobedience, of orders, on his part,
which had so sorely tried the much enduring President ; and
they thought it "hard lines" that he should be superseded
so soon after he had beaten Lee and driven him out of Mary-
land. They had nothing against Burnside, for he was known
as the friend and admirer of McClellan, and a frank, generous
and patriotic soldier. The army did not know how much he
distrusted his own ability for the chief command, though
some of those highest in rank did, and shared his distrust;
but whatever he was he could not take McClellan's place in
the confidence and affection of the army. The new division
commander, General Howe, had commanded the second
brigade of Couch's division, which was attached to the Sixth
corps during the Maryland campaign. Howe was a New
Englander, a native of Maine, a West Point graduate, a good
disciplinarian and brave soldier, who earned the respect of his
troops during the year or more in which he commanded the
division, and who came to hold the highest opinion of the
336 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Vermont troops. But he was nqw to them at this time, and
could not have been expected at once to fill the place of
General Smith in their regard. Neither could Colonel
Whiting fill the place of General Brooks. The officers and
men pretty generally approved of him in camp ; for he un-
derstood his business, took good care of his troops, and
insisted on the regular order of promotions in the regiments ;
but all knew that fighting was not congenial business to him ;
and that he could not be relied on for presence of mind, nor
indeed always for presence of body, in emergencies.
General McClellan gave the Sixth corps and the army a
farewell review, at New Baltimore, on the 10th, when his fare-
well address was read, and he was greeted with hearty
cheers, as, accompanied by General Burnside and an impos-
ing cavalcade, he rode along the lines, while the batteries
fired salutes and the bands played "Hail to the Chief."
On the 15th of November, Burnside, having completed
the reorganization of the army, which was now a well
equipped body of 125,000 men, and secured the reluctant
assent of the administration to a movement on Richmond by
the way of Fredericksburg, began his march for the Rappa-
hannock. Whiting's brigade at this time numbered about
3,200 officers and men, the Vermont regiments having about
500 each, present for duty, and the New Jersey regiment
about 700.
On the morning of the 16th, the Sixth corps broke
camp, moved out through the desolate and deserted village
of New Baltimore, crossed the Orange and Alexandria Rail-
road at Catlett's Station, and camped two miles beyond
near the Virginia "village" of Weaverville, consisting of a
mill and a blacksmith shop. The next two days' marches, of
about ten miles each, through the pine and oak barrens,
brought the corps to the banks of Acquia Creek, four miles
north of Stafford Court House, around which General Frank-
lin concentrated his grand division, while Sumner took his
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 337
grand division to the Bappahannock at Falmouth, opposite
Fredericksburg, and Hooker was held a few miles back.
Here the army remained for eight days, while Burnside was
waiting for pontoons — the delay of which, through fault of
General Halleck or some subordinate, cost Burnside the op-
portunity to occupy Fredericksburg unopposed — and making
preparations to force the passage after it had become plain
that Lee was in force on the opposite bank. During this
quiet week the troops stockaded their tents, built fire places*
and had made themselves very comfortable in camp by
Thanksgiving Day, November 27th. This was a clear and
pleasant day; and though no "boxes " from home could come
to help out the army rations, the men were not altogether
destitute or unhappy, and were preparing to celebrate the
day, when marching orders interfered. The Second and
Fifth regiments were left to guard the telegraph lines and
roads above Acquia Creek Landing, while the other four regi-
ments packed knapsacks, pulled the tents off from the stock-
ades, and starting in the forenoon, marched five or six miles
to the south, halting and pitching their tents by moonlight,
south of Potomac Creek. Here they remained several days.
The first week in December gave the troops some arduous ex-
perience of cold rains, mud and snow, during which the
inevitable picket duty became at times a service of severe
exposure. On the 6th of December, the brigade moved again
with the division, some six miles, over ground frozen hard
enough to bear the army wagons, halting four or five miles
from Belle Plain, and five or six miles north of Skinker's
Neck, where Burnside at first contemplated making his
crossing of the Bappahannock. The weather was severely
cold. The brigade trains did not get along till the next
morning. The men huddled under their shelter tents with two
inches of snow for bedding, and the tentless officers crouched
around camp fires in the woods. Six sick soldiers, in another
brigade of the corps, died in the ambulances that bitter
338 YEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
night.1 On the 10th, the Second and Fifth regiments joined
the brigade ; and on the llth the whole army was in motion
for the Rappahannock.
THE FIRST FREDERICKSBURG.
The fortnight's delay had given Lee all the time he
needed for preparation to meet the movement. He had
concentrated his army of about 80,000 men 2 about Freder-
icksburg, and had strongly fortified the heights which encircle
the town. His army occupied Fredericksburg and the ridge
or brow, with a higher ridge behind it, which begins at the
river bank above the Falmouth Ford, and extends behind
the town nearly parallel to the river for six miles, to the
Massaponax, a tributary of the Kappahannock, emptying into
it about five miles below the town. On the plain, three
quarters of a mile to a mile and a half wide, between the
ridge and the river, here from three hundred to four hun-
dred yards wide, stood and stands the quaint old town of
Fredericksburg, the place of the death and burial of the
mother of "Washington, and a town of 4,000 inhabitants
before the war. The ground on the north bank is of some-
what similar formation to that on the south, though the
heights are lower, and much nearer the river. The ground
on the north side favored a crossing, for it was easy to post
batteries enough to command the points selected for the
bridges. But the crossing effected, Burnside was just where
Lee wanted him ; and the latter must have witnessed with
a stern pleasure the preparations which were made by the
Federal commander to dash his army against the terraced
heights along which lay the Confederate lines.
The Union generals, on their part, were not blind to the
hazards of the effort, and many of them viewed it with
1 Surgeon Stevens, Seventy-seventh New York.
8 His aggregate present for duty December 10th, was 78,228.
DEC 13 TN 1862
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 339
strong forebodings of disaster. Hooker strongly advised
Burnside not to attack. The vagueness and fluctuations of
Burnside's plan, the confusion and contradictions of orders,
the want of concert of action, and other causes of his failure,
have long been fruitful subjects of discussion ; but they need
not be discussed here.
The battle was chiefly fought on the 13th of December,
though the various movements of advance and retreat occu-
pied five days. On the llth, the pontoon bridges, five in
number, were laid, not without serious annoyance, delay
and loss from the enemy's sharpshooters, especially at the
bridges opposite the town. A striking feature of this day
was a bombardment of the city by a hundred guns, posted
on the crests on the north bank. This fired the town
in various places, but had little other effect. The 12th was
consumed in marching the various corps across the bridges,
taking position on the south bank, and reconnoitring the
the enemy's position in front. The 13th was occupied from
eleven o'clock in the forenoon till night with successive
attacks on the enemy's positions, made from the right, under
Sumner, against the Confederate left and centre, held by
Longstreet, and from the Union left, under Franklin, against
the Confederate right, held by Jackson's corps. These attacks
had one fate. The Union columns all suffered severely from
the fire of the Confederate batteries, while advancing across
the plain, but pushed forward to the foot of the heights and
to the stone walls which sheltered the enemy's infantry ; and
then fell back in shattered masses, without anywhere estab-
lishing a permanent lodgment. " Six times," says General
Lee, " did the enemy, notwithstanding the havoc caused by
our batteries, press on with great determination to within one
hundred yards of the foot of the hill ; but here encountering
the deadly fire of our infantry his columns were broken and
fled in confusion." There was not, in point of fact, so much
of this fleeing "in confusion" as may be supposed; but
340 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
division after division was driven back with heavy loss.
Hancock lost in round numbers 2,000 men, French 1,200,
Sturgis 1,000, Humphreys 1,000, and so on through a terribly
bloody list.
No assault was made by any division of the Sixth corps >
and grave fault was found with General Franklin because he
did not use that corps and the rest of the 50,000 men under his
command, in a much more formidable attack from the Union
left, than was made. Franklin was even charged by Burnside
— and the charge was sustained by a report of the Com-
mittee on the Conduct of the War — with causing the defeat
of the army by his failure to attack with all the force he could
use ; and for this he was soon after relieved of his command,
with very serious detriment to his reputation as a soldier.
But his reply to the charge, and the facts and orders in the
case, have left it to this day an open question, whether or no
Burnside meant at the time, as he subsequently said he
meant — that the main assault on Lee's position should be
made by Franklin. The latter averred most earnestly that
he did not so understand his orders ; and the orders were so
confused and contradictory as not to compel such an under-
standing of them. Whether the general result would have
been different if Burnside had dashed twice as many men
against the heights is doubtful, in view of the immense
strength of the enemy's position, and of the character of the
commander and troops — Stonewall Jackson and his corps —
opposed to Franklin. One thing is pretty certain — that if the
main attack had been made by Franklin, the Sixth corps
would have had a prominent share in it ; and the Vermont
colonels, in common with the rest, would have had to report
far longer lists of killed and wounded. As it was, the Sixth
corps and Howe's division and the Vermont brigade were by
no means idle or out of danger.
Of the four corps arrayed by Burnside on the plain of
Fredericksburg, the Sixth was placed on the left centre, the
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 341
order of battle being, from right to left, Second, Ninth,
Sixth and First corps. The position of the Sixth corps was
along the Old Richmond Stage road, otherwise known as the
Bowling Green road, on both sides of Deep Eun, over against,
and half a mile from Franklin's bridges. " The divisions of
Howe and Brooks," says General Franklin in his reply to the
report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, "were
the two divisions on which I had to rely, to protect my right,
centre, and bridges." These were posted on Friday, the
12th, Brooks on the right, holding a portion of the Stage
road, with a line in front of Deep Eun, and Howe on his left
along the crest of a hill, with his right at a sharp turn of Deep
Eun. A skirmish line was thrown out in front nearly to the
Eichmond and Fredericksburg railroad, which runs about
half way between the Eichmond Stage road and the heights.
The orders to Howe and Brooks were to hold the position
and not to advance unless it became necessary, in a general
attack. Under these orders they remained for the most part
stationary, while the advances and heavy fighting and useless
sacrifices of life took place to the right and left of them, on
Saturday. Their skirmish lines in front, however, were con-
stantly and often sharply engaged, both on Saturday and
Sunday ; and it was on the skirmish line that the Vermont
regiments were employed, and suffered such loss as they
received.
Describing their part in the battle more in detail, the
brigade marched in the morning of Thursday, the llth, from
its camp, five miles back from the river, with Howe's divi-
sion, which reached the bank of the Eappahannock in the
forenoon. As they passed over Stafford Heights, its brow
grim with batteries at points stretching for three miles to
the right, the valley opened before them. Fog and the
smoke from the Confederate batteries hid most of the
opposite bank till noon. On the left bank the engineers and
working parties were laying the bridges, and hard at work
342 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
in spite of the rebel sharpshooters and occasional artillery
fire from across the river. About noon the bombardment of
the city, before mentioned, opened from over a
Dec. 11, 1862. J'
hundred guns; and the roar of artillery and
screaming of the shells, the rising clouds of white smoke from
the guns, and the dense pillars of darker smoke defined against
the background of fog across the river, as the fires kindled by
the shells gained headway in the city, offered stirring sounds
and sights. At four o'clock p. M., the construction of Frank-
lin's bridges, three in number, was so far advanced that the
Sixth corps was ordered to cross, and marched down to the
plain ; but the hour was too late to effect a crossing and to
occupy a defensive position on the other bank before dark,
and the corps was ordered back to the hills and bivouacked
there on the frozen ground.
At daylight next morning the crossing was effected,
Howe following Brooks and taking position on his left. When
formed on the right bank the Sixth corps advanced half a
mile and took position on the old Richmond stage road,
Brooks and Howe in front and Newton's division in reserve.
From the heights, some 1,500 yards away, the enemy's bat-
teries, as soon as the fog lifted sufficiently to disclose the
movement, opened a spasmodic fire.
Howe's division was formed in three lines, its right rest-
ing on the ravine of Deep Run, Pratt's brigade in front, with
two batteries in its line and two more on its right and left,
Vinton's brigade next, and the Vermont brigade forming the
third line. The division held this position during the after-
noon of Friday and the next two days and nights, the
positions of the brigades being interchanged, however, each
brigade in turn taking the front for a day and night. During
Friday night the enemy, in addition to his batteries on the
heights, brought down 21 guns to the sloping edge of the
plain, near "the Bernard cabins," to the front and left of
Howe's division, and some sharp artillery duels were main-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 343
tainecl between them and the Union batteries during the day
on Saturday and on Sunday morning. The fighting on the
skirmish line was continuous and active. General Franklin
says: "Smith's line of skirmishers was nearly constantly
engaged." General Smith says: "Our skirmish line was
engaged nearly all the time." General Howe calls the
skirmish line of his division " an angry skirmish line," and
elsewhere mentions the "sharp clashes of the skirmish lines/*
and the " constant activity " of the skirmishers.
In this skirmishing all of the Vermont regiments but the
Sixth took active part. The Second Vermont, under Lieut.
Colonel Joyce, was sent forward on Friday to the skirmish
line, which was advanced, the Confederate skirmishers being
driven back for some distance. An effort of the enemy to
restore his line, just before night, was repulsed. The Con-
federates advanced confidently, but were received by the
Second, whose picket reserve was partially sheltered by a
ditch, with a volley, which sent them back, leaving several
prisoners in the hands of the Second. On Saturday morn-
ing, the enemy, of Fender's brigade, having strengthened his
skirmish line, again endeavored to drive back the skirmish
line of Howe's division; "bufc," says General Howe, "they
immediately came into collision with those hardy veterans of
the Vermont brigade, under Lieut. Colonel Joyce of the
Second Vermont, and were handsomely repulsed, and them-
selves driven back."1
A more formidable attack was made on Howe's line, on
Saturday afternoon, immediately after the repulse of Frank-
lin's main assault from the left. The attacking force was
Law's brigade (of North Carolina and Alabama troops) of
Hood's division, and a portion of Fender's brigade. It was
repulsed chiefly by the Vermonters, the Third Vermont hav-
1 While this skirmish was in progress, General Vinton, commanding
The Third brigade, rode up to the skirmish line and was severely wounded
in the abdomen.
344 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
ing a specially prominent part. While the preparations for
the attack were in visible progress in front, the Third, which
was on the right of the brigade, was ordered forward to a
point near the railroad, on the edge of the ravine of Deep
Bun. The regiment was taken thither by Lieut. Colonel
Seaver ', who led it up through the ravine, and deployed it
along the edge, which was fringed at that point with growing
timber. It came out right on the flank of Law's brigade,
which was then charging Howe's line, to the left, and opened
on it a raking fire, under which it broke and retired with
heavy loss. Law reported a loss of 214 men killed and
wounded in this operation, and the Sixteenth North Carolina,
of Fender's brigade, which participated in the movement,
lost 54 officers and men killed and wounded, and a number
of prisoners. General Fender's account of this affair is as
follows : " After the heat of the action on the right, the
"enemy advanced a brigade up Deep Bun, throwing one
" regiment somewhat in advance, which so sheltered itself
"behind the trees, as to get near enough to take an officer
" and fifteen men of the Sixteenth North Carolina prisoners,
" who were protecting the left flank of their regiment. This
"left the regiment to be raked by a fire down the railroad
" track. The Colonel (McElroy) drew his regiment back to
" the ditch and held his ground until General Law sent for-
"ward two regiments to its assistance. These three then
"charged the enemy, driving them from the railroad cut
"and across the fields to within a short distance of their
"batteries." Nothing like the operation described in this
last sentence took place ;a and the statement is in effect con-
1 Colonel Hyde being considerably prostrated at the time, by physical
disability, as he claimed.
4 " Howe's division on the left of Smith's corps, being more advanced
than the others, fronted the Heights of Bernard's Cabin, and the adjoin-
ing woods, which were occupied by Hood's right and the left of A. P. Hill.
About three o'clock, (of the 13th) Law's brigade attacked the left of Howe
along the railroad, and was speedily repulsed with loss."— Comte de Paris.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 345
tradicted by General Law, who does not claim that his regi-
ments did more at that time than to check the fire from their
left, and says he then withdrew them. The Fourth regiment
tinder Lieut. Colonel Foster1 was actively engaged on the
skirmish line on Saturday. It was on the extreme left of the
division skirmish line, and when Gibbon's division advanced
to the railroad, in support of Meade's assault, the Fourth was
advanced sufficiently to maintain a connection with Gibbon's
line, on its left. The regiment distinguished itself by its
steadiness and efficiency, and lost more men killed than any
regiment of the brigade, suffering especially from canister.
The Fifth, Colonel Grant, was on the skirmish line on
Saturday, on the right of the Fourth, and was again engaged
on the skirmish line on Sunday, during which day most of
the casualties in the regiment occurred. While looking after
the skirmishers, Colonel Grant received a painful blow on the
leg from a spent ball. The regiment, as usual, behaved well.
The night of the 13th of December, 1862, has been
called " probably the most painful ever experienced by the
Army of the Potomac during its whole existence." 2 But the
Vermonters, though they knew that the fighting had been
heavy, realized little of the frightful carnage that had taken
place in other corps. They brought in their wounded and
sent them across the river, and buried their dead ; and only
learned on the day following that 12,000 men had been sacri-
ficed in this fruitless battle. The casualties of the brigade
were 148 in number, divided as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Died of wounds.
Second Vermont Regiment, 5 59 0
Third " " 28 1
Fourth " " 12 45 2
Fifth, » " 1 12 0
Sixth, " " 11 0
Twenty-sixth New Jersey, 02 0
Total, 21 127 3
1 Colonel Stoughton being absent, at Washington. 2 Comte de Paris.
346 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
This was a slight loss as compared with that of some of
Hancock's brigades which were pushed against Marye's
Heights and lost over half their number. Yet the battle was
no boy's play for the Vermont troops, who had to stand
under frequent artillery fire, when not busy on the skirmish
line, by day, and could sleep only by snatches on their arms
by night, for sixty hours ; and they were not sorry, on Mon-
day morning, to be relieved by General Newton's division,
and to be marched back near the river out of fire. General
Howe's report makes more prominent mention of the Ver-
mont troops than of any others on his skirmish line, and
when he says that his line was "gallantly maintained at all
points," and that his infantry lines stood ''unmoved for
three days and nights under the direct and enfilading fire of
the enemy's batteries, and at all times exhibited a discipline
and soldiership worthy of veterans of the first class," the
Vermonters are entitled to their share of the praise. They
in fact established in this battle the reputation, which they
never lost, of especial efficiency and steadiness as skirmishers.
Burnside, rendered desperate by his defeat, proposed to
renew the battle on Sunday, and to head his old corps, the
Ninth, in person, in another mad attempt to storm the
heights; but he was dissuaded by his corps commanders.
Lee, on his part, did not venture to take the offensive, and
on Monday night, in a storm of wind and rain, the Army
of the Potomac marched back across the bridges, and re-
turned to its camps.
The Sixth corps went into camp near White Oak Church
— a little white-washed meeting-house standing in a clump
of oaks — about four miles from the Kappahannock and the
same distance from Belle Plain, on Potomac Creek, now the
base of supply. Here were three extensive landings, one for
the receipt of commissary stores, another for the shipping
and discharging of troops, ordnance and quartermaster's
stores, and another for forage, at which a million pounds of
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 347
hay and grain were handled daily. This immense supply
station was under the capable charge of Captain and A. Q. M.
Perley P. Pitkin, of Vermont, the former quartermaster of
the Second Vermont.
A month of uniform and quiet life followed the First
Fredericksburg. The troops built shanties and made them-
selves comfortable in camp. The weather was generally
mild and much of it pleasant ; and the health of the older
soldiers was pretty good, though there was a good deal of
sickness among the recruits. The morning report of the first
of January, 1863, showed an aggregate of 3,933 men in the
five Vermont regiments, with 2,760 present for duty.
The days passed in the usual routine of picket and
guard duty, battalion and skirmish drills, and inspections,
with one or two brigade drills and reviews, till on the 19th of
January, marching orders were once more received, and in
the forenoon of the 20th, the brigade started, with the Sixth
corps, with three days rations, over frozen ground and good
roads, for some unknown destination. Three or four miles
from camp the columns were halted and an order from
General Burnside was read, announcing that the army was
again to meet the enemy, and calling for the best efforts of
officers and men. Burnside's present plan was to cross the
Eappahannock at Banks's Ford, about six miles above Fred-
ericksburg, turn the left of Lee's position, and fight a decisive
battle on Salem Heights. This purpose was defeated by the
elements. The corps marched that day about 12 miles.
That night a terrific rain storm set in. The bottom dropped
out of the roads; and the march of the army next day
became an exhausting flounder in the mud. Another day
of rain followed; the army made no progress; and mired
ammunition wagons, stalled artillery, pontoon trains, supply
wagons and ambulances, all at a standstill and in almost
inextricable confusion, filled the roads. Sixteen horses tug-
ged in vain on a single field piece. The men were set to
348 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
corduroying roads. To the Vermont brigade, which was well
to the front of the column, and had camped about a mile
from Banks's Ford, was given the task of helping the ex-
hausted horses and mules pull through the pontoon train and
artillery. The men had a hard day's work. It took a hundred
men on the drag ropes to furnish the motive power for a
single pontoon, in mud through which it was not easy for an
unburdened man to make his way. General Burnside was
active in encouraging the men.1 But it soon became plain
to him and to all, that the movement, concealment of which
from the enemy was essential to its success, was a failure.
The rations were exhausted ; the order to return was given
that night, and the next morning the troops floundered back
to their camps, weary, footsore, and scarcely recognizable
among themselves from the coating of Virginia mud which
covered them. So ended the famous " Mud March," which
was the closing movement of General Burnside's short career
as army commander.
General Burnside had learned from President Lincoln,
after the failure of the attempt against Fredericksburg, that a
number of his corps and division generals considered him
incompetent to command and had no faith that any enter-
prise under him could succeed. He had hoped to remove
this want of confidence by a successful movement. The
effort had failed through the interference of the elements.
The condition of mind in which it left Burnside can be
inferred from his action. He made out an order dismissing
from the service Generals Hooker, Brooks, Newton and
Cochrane and sending away from the army of the Potomac
1 "As he [Burnside] rode through our division in the afternoon, with
only two staff officers, himself and horse covered with mud, his hat rim
turned down to shed the rain, his face careworn with this sudden disar-
rangement of his plans, we could but think that the soldier on foot,
oppressed with the weight of kuapsack> haversack and gun, bore an easy
load compared with that of the commander of the army." — Surgeon
Ste vens.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 349
i
Generals Franklin, Smith, Sturgis and Ferrero; took it to
Washington, and demanded either its approval by the Presi-
dent, or the acceptance of his own resignation. Mr. Lincoln
thought it better that the army be deprived of an unsuccess-
ful though honest and patriotic chief, than of most of its
corps and division generals. So General Burnside's resigna-
tion was accepted, and General Joseph Hooker, instead of
being dismissed the service, was made commander of the
army in his stead.
CHAPTEE XIY.
THE FIRST BRIGADE— CONTINUED.
General Hooker takes command— Reorganization of the army— Sedgwick
succeeds Smith as commander of the Sixth corps— The new brigade
commander, Colonel Grant — The Chancellorsville campaign — The
Sixth corps crosses the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg— Marye's
Heights — Brilliant part of the Vermont brigade — Salem Heights and
Bank's Ford — Details of the fighting of the Vermont regiments — The
brigade covers the recrossing of the Sixth corps — Losses of the Vermont
troops— Return to White Oak Church.
General Hooker's first work, as commander of the army,
was reorganization. The grand divisions, which had proved
unwieldly and useless, were abolished. The corps organiza-
tions remained ; but new corps commanders were assigned to
all of them except the First and Second, which retained
their old commanders, Reynolds and Couch. The Ninth
corps was detached from the army and sent to North Carolina,
and General William F. Smith was assigned to its command.
Division commanders, selected for their fighting qualities,
were advanced to the commands of the other corps. The
Eleventh and Twelfth corps, which had been detached under
Burnside, were brought back to the Army of the Potomac.
As thus reorganized the army consisted of the First corps,
Eeynolds ; Second, Couch ; Third, Sickles ; Fifth, Meade ;
Sixth, Sedgwick ; Eleventh, Howard ; and Twelfth, Slocum.
General Howe remained in the command of the Second
division, Sixth corps, of which the Yermont brigade was a
part.
This period was one of rapid improvement in the tone
and condition of the army. The depression which followed
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 351
the useless slaughter of Fredericksburg, soon passed away.
General Hooker almost stopped desertions, which had become
fearfully numerous, improved the efficiency of the staff and
administrative service, consolidated and reorganized the
cavalry arm, which now began to show its value ; adopted
the system of corps badges ; brought up the medical, quarter-
master and commissary departments to a wonderful pitch of
efficiency, and adopted an improved ambulance system,
which has been a model for the armies of other nations.1 In
these and other ways he showed the army that it had at its
head a man of more than common energy and administrative
abilities. His courage and fighting qualities had been de-
monstrated at Williamsburg, Glendale, Malvern Hill, the
Second Bull Bun, and Antietam. The defects in his character
and insufficiency for chief command were unknown. His
appearance and bearing were prepossessing ; and as he rode
along the lines on his splendid white horse, about the hand-
somest as he was the most conspicuous soldier in the army,
every man in the ranks felt sure that the army now had a
commander who would lead it to victory.
The Sixth corps was sorry to lose General Smith ; but it
soon learned to consider itself fortunate in his successor.
Bred to arms, John Sedgwick had served with distinction in
the Mexican war, had been placed in responsible commands
by McClellan, had won for his division the reputation of
being the best division in Sumner's corps, and had especially
distinguished himself by his sturdy fight against heavy odds
at Antietam. Bluff, reticent, utterly without ostentation, the
officers and men under him came to realize that his blue
blouse and coarse army pantaloons covered a true man and a
brave soldier — who knew his business and cared to know no
more ; who meant to do his duty and expected those under
him to do theirs. Under him the Sixth corps won its rank
1 Originated by Dr. Letterman, medical director of the Army of the
Potoirac.
352 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
as the best corps in the army — a title so often given to it by
others, that it is not surprising that its members came to
accept it as a true one.
General Howe, as has been said, was an excellent division
commander, and was growing in the respect and confidence
of his command.
A good many changes of command had been taking
place in the Yermont brigade. Within the six weeks between
December 18th, 1862, and February 9th, 1863, the remaining
three of the original colonels of the brigade, Whiting, Hyde
and Lord, together with Lieut. Colonel Joyce, command-
ing the Second regiment, had resigned and retired to private
life ; and before the resumption of active operations in the
spring, Colonel Tut tie of the Sixth resigned. The removals
of subordinate officers by death, disease and discharge
had been so numerous that at the end of the first fifteen
months of the existence of the brigade, on the 1st of
March, 1863, there had been an entire change of the field
and staff of every regiment, while of the fifty original cap-
tains in the line, but six remained.1 On the retirement
of Colonel Whiting, which took place February 9th, 1863,
Colonel Lewis A. Grant of the Fifth, as the ranking colonel,
succeeded to the co mmand of the brigade.
Colonel Grant had as yet his mark to make as a brigade
commander. Entering the service with no military train-
ing or experience, he had by diligent study thoroughly
mastered the Regulations, and gave a degree of attention to
details which some thought excessive, though by others it
was considered worthy of praise. He had shown courage,
energy and industry in the command of the Fifth regiment.
With his accession to the command of the brigade regular
and reasonably full reports of engagements and movements
began to be made ; and he took hold of the duties of his new
1 Captains Pratt, Platt, Addison Brown, and Laird of the Fourth Ver-
mont; Captain Jenne of the Fifth, and Captain Hutchinson of the Sixth.
Engraved for Termo;
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 353
position in a way that gave promise — which his career ful-
filled— that the brigade would have in him, if not a highly
popular commander, a vigilant, trusty and capable one, in
camp and on the battlefield.
The commanders of the regiments were, of the Second,
Colonel James H. Walbridge; Third, Colonel Thomas O.
Seaver ; Fourth, Colonel Charles B. Stoughton ; Fifth, Lieut.
CoJonel John It. Lewis; Sixth, Colonel Elisha L. Barney.
All of these had risen, by successive promotions, from the
line. Each had shown bravery and capacity in subordinate
commands, and each had the respect and confidence of the
officers and men under him.
The later months of the winter of 1862-3 were passed
by the brigade in the camp near White Oak Church. There
was abundance of cold weather with occasional snow storms
up to the end of March and even into April, and at times
considerable sickness prevailed, as shown by the long lists of
Vermont soldiers in the regimental and Philadelphia hos-
pitals. But the health of the brigade improved steadily
through the winter months, and was rarely better than it was
when the spring campaign of 1863 began.
One of the chief events of the winter was a notable
snow-ball battle. The Third and Fourth Yermont regiments
were challenged by the Twenty-sixth New Jersey, which
numbered as many men as both the others, to meet them on
the mimic battlefield. Snow-balling was a favorite amuse-
ment with the Jerseymen, and they had become especially
proficient in it; but their challenge was accepted by the
Vermont boys, and the contest took place on the 25th of
February. An immense multitude of spectators gathered to
witness it from the camps around. The opposing lines were
marshalled by their line and field officers, the latter mounted.
Skirmishers were thrown out, followed by attacks and counter
attacks in line. The game ended in the capture by the Ver-
mont boys of the colonel, adjutant and quartermaster of
23
354 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL AVAR.
the New Jersey regiment, all finely mounted, and the utter
rout of the Jersey men. It was a piece of boy's play ; but it
made about as much stir, at the time, as a serious battle.
The five Yermont regiments, on the 15th of April, 1863,
aggregated 3,343 officers and men, with 2,796 present for
duty. The Army of the Potomac, on the same date, num-
bered 113,000 infantry and artillery and 12,000 cavalry; and
perhaps General Hooker was not far out of the way when he
called it "the finest army on the planet." General Lee's
army was less numerous. The rolls of the army of Northern
Virginia on the 30th of March, 1863, showed an aggregate of
60,298 men. It is to be noted, however, in regard to all
statements of numbers on the Southern side, that it is known
that in special emergencies occurring on Southern soil, in
addition to the numbers officially reported by the Confederate
commanders, considerable numbers of irregular troops and
volunteers for temporary service took part, which do not
appear on the army rolls. There is little doubt, also, that
the statements of losses on the Confederate side, in battles
fought on Southern soil, were often under the truth, even
in cases where there was any intention to state it, owing to
the facts that losses among such temporary volunteers were
not reported, and that many wounded Confederates wan-
dered off and sought shelter and perhaps died in the houses
of friendly inhabitants of the country around the battlefields,
and were never reported in any lists of casualties. Intelli-
gent residents in Virginia since the war, state their belief
that in many cases a considerable percentage should be added
to the official statements of Confederate numbers and losses,
on these accounts.
On the 3d of April the brigade was reviewed with the
Sixth corps by General Hooker, and on the 8th, President
Lincoln, accompanied by General Hooker and a great caval-
cade of generals and staff officers, reviewed the Third, Fifth
and Sixth corps. The other three corps were reviewed the
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 355
next day. The paymasters paid off the regiments about this
time. The weather became warm and the roads more pass-
able ; and orders to send all extra clothing and camp equipage
to Alexandria, in the first week in April, indicated that the
spring campaign was at hand. Yet the men were busy in
grading their camps and shading the company streets with
evergreens as if for a long stay, when, on the 14th of April, the
orders came to make ready to move. These orders had some
new features ; — officers were allowed one valise apiece and
shelter tents, to be carried on pack mules, instead of un-
limited baggage and A tents carried in wagons ; and the men
were to carry eight day's rations — three in their haversacks,
and five in their knapsacks — leaving little room for anything
else. Something more than a holiday excursion was evidently
on foot, and the prospect of active operations was welcomed
by most of the army. A long storm delayed the proposed
movement for two weeks.
The Chancellorsville campaign began in earnest on the
27th of April. Hooker's plan was to move against Lee's left
with four corps,1 by a wide detour, crossing the Rappahan-
nock at Kelley's Fords, twenty-seven miles above Fredericks-
burg, and passing around Lee's flank to Chancellorsville, in
the edge of the Wilderness, twelve miles west of Fredericks-
burg ; while Sedgwick with two corps,2 was to force a crossing
at Fredericksburg, and make a demonstration against the
Confederate position along the Heights.
The crossing and march of the main column were effected
with surprising celerity ; and on the night of Thursday, April
30th, Hooker's headquarters were at Chancellorsville — a
single brick house at a cross-roads — and he had taken 50,000
men with him to the rear of the very centre of Lee's fortified
1 These in the course of the movement and battle were followed by two
more corps.
* Reduced afterwards to one.
356 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
line. Meantime pontoon bridges had been thrown across the
river below Fredericksburg, at the point where Franklin
crossed in December, and a mile below. The First and Sixth
corps had marched to the river ; and a division of each corps —
Brooks's of the Sixth and Wadsworth's of the First — crossed
to guard the bridge heads. The other divisions of both corps
remained on the northern bank, where they lay on Friday
while Hooker was pushing reconnoitring columns out towards
Fredericksburg. On Saturday, Hooker having by this time
discovered that Lee had no intention of retreating, the First
corps was withdrawn and moved to Chancellorsville, leaving
Sedgwick with only his own corps to operate against the
enemy's right. Between six and seven o'clock that evening.
Stonewall Jackson, making a circuit to the west, struck and
stampeded the Eleventh . corps, on the extreme right of
Hooker's line, and an hour later fell mortally wounded in the
dusk of the evening, with three bullet holes through him.1
That evening Howe's division of the Sixth corps crossed to
the south bank. On Sunday morning Sedgwick stormed
Marye's Heights, in which brilliant achievement the Vermont
brigade won immortal fame ; and in the afternoon marched
out to Salem Heights, back of Fredericksburg, to menace
General Lee's rear. Lee, in the meantime, had been forcing
the fighting at Chancellorsville, and had taken the cross-roads,,
pushing Hooker's lines back to the north. Hooker had been
stunned by the concussion of a cannon ball, which struck a
pillar of the Chancellorsville house against which he was
leaning, and the Union army was for a time without a head,
In general, affairs were in such a condition that Lee could
afford to, and did, detach a strong force from his front to
meet Sedgwick Sunday afternoon. Sedgwick carried the crest
at Salem Church but could not hold it ; and the next day, Lee
1 It will never be known whether he was wounded by his own men or
by the Union troops. He was between the lines, and both were firing.
The Union fire killed one of the men who bore him away.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 357
having further strengthened the force opposed to him, he was
forced back, though resisting obstinately, to the river, at
Banks's Ford, four miles above Fredericksburg. But he gave
his assailants a bloody recoil at the close of the day, and
that night the Sixth corps re-crossed the Eappahannock
The next night, Hooker, who had been doing no fighting
since Sunday noon, though he had with him more men who
had not drawn a trigger than there were in Lee's entire army,
and though he ought to have been glad to be attacked in
the impregnable position he had taken, also re-crossed the
river, leaving his 12,000 killed and wounded, 14 guns and
nearly 20,000 small arms to the enemy.
It is not necessary to the purpose of this history to
describe the portion of this famous double battle that was
conducted under Hooker's immediate command, or near
his headquarters. The mysterious strategy therein displayed
has raised the questions, why a soldier of Hooker's energy
waited for two days to be attacked on the tangled and un-
favorable ground of Chancellorsville, thus losing all he had
gained by the celerity of his movement across the Eappahan-
nock ; why he did not occupy, as he could easily have done
the favorable ground commanding Banks's Ford, thus bringing
his wings twelve miles nearer to each other, and almost unit-
ing them ; why he permitted half of his force in the field at
Chancellorsville to be worsted on Sunday, while the other
half stood by unemployed ; why he allowed Sedgwick to be
outnumbered and enveloped without the slightest diversion
in his favor or attempt to reinforce him ; why, when physical
incapacity was added to mental, he did not relinquish the
command to some one else. These are questions which have
perplexed far abler military critics than the writer of this
history, and he is glad not to be called on to explain or discuss
them. His task is the simpler one of telling what was done
by and happened to the Sixth corps, with especial reference
to the part taken by the Yermont troops. To go back a
358 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
little, the Sixth corps left its camp near White Oak Church
in the afternoon of the 28th, and bivouacked that night, with-
out fires, about a mile back from the river, the regiments of
the Yermont brigade being crowded together in the woods,
on ground so low and wet that the soldier thought himself
lucky who could lie on a brush-heap instead of in a puddle.
In the early morning a force crossed the river in boats
and captured the enemy's picket line on the south bank ; and
pontoon bridges were laid at Franklin's crossing. Brooks's
division then crossed the river, and Howe's division moved
down near the bridges. These divisions remained thus
during Thursday and Friday. A good deal of rain fell, and
the mud was deep ; but the spirits of the troops and their
faith in General Hooker were high. Brooks's skirmishers
on Thursday unmasked to some extent the enemy's force,
which, under General Early, occupied the heights, with a
line along the railroad on the plain in front. Early made
a formidable show of strength, and at times moved troops
to and fro in masses large enough to give the impression
that he was holding the position with a very strong force.
There were some artillery duels to the left; but no other
fighting. Friday morning, General Hooker's order, announc-
ing that he had gained the enemy's rear and that Lee must fly
or come out and give battle where certain destruction awaited
him, was published to the troops. The day passed quietly
in front of Fredericksburg ; but the sound of artillery came
in the afternoon from the west, where the columns which
Hooker had pushed out, only to withdraw them, were meet-
ing some resistance. Friday night was quiet and even de-
lightful along the Eappahannock. The moon was nearly
full and its light glistened broad and bright on the river,
the intervale between the river and the hills was spangled
with the lights of the Union army, while the Confederate
camp fires gleamed and their signal lights flashed along the
semicircle of the heights.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 359
Saturday morning, the First corps was withdrawn from
its position on the left of the Sixth and sent around to
strengthen Hooker at Chancellorsville, though it was not
used after it got there. There were some exchanges of com-
pliments between Sedgwick's batteries and skirmishers and
the enemy's this day; but neither side took the offensive in
earnest. The heavy firing and clouds of rising smoke beyond
Fredericksburg to the west, however, told of serious work in
progress there, and the occasional visible hurrying of troops
in that direction from the enemy's lines in front indicated
that his left was being reinforced from his right. Brooks ad-
vanced to the stage road, Saturday, pushing the enemy back
to the woods; in the evening Howe's division crossed the
river, and the Sixth corps was concentrated on the right
bank. The men lay on their arms that night. At eleven
o'clock that evening, General Sedgwick received from Hooker
orders, sent after the disaster to his right wing had occurred,
to put the Sixth corps in motion, seize Eredericksburg and
the heights, move out toward Chancellorsville, destroying
any force that blocked the way, and to get into the vicinity
of the main army by daylight.
General Sedgwick was severely blamed by various gen-
erals, from General Hooker down to one of his own division
commanders,1 for not obeying this order with more prompt-
ness and energy. Sedgwick's reply to the charge of inaction
was that he did all that was practicable ; that the order was
given upon the assumption that there was a very small rebel
force to oppose him, whereas he knew that the heights were
defended by a large force; and that the distance between
him and Chancellorsville was so great, being fourteen miles,
that he could not have reached Hooker by daybreak even if
there had not been an armed rebel in the way. It is to be
said on Sedgwick's side of the case, that there is no doubt
1 General Howe.
360 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
that Hooker supposed that Sedgwick had less ground to
cover, in order to join him, than was the case. He did not
seem to realize that Sedgwick was not at or opposite Fred-
ericksburg, but three miles below. Furthermore, General
Hooker and those about his headquarters believed that Lee
had withdrawn troops from his right till not over a brigade
was left to make a show of opposition to Sedgwick ; whereas
in fact Lee had left an entire division, Early's,1 and two
brigades — Barksdale's, of McLaws's division, and Wilcox's,
of Anderson's division— to guard his lines about Fredericks-
burg. Early had at his disposal a force of 10,000 men — not
much short of the number that had beaten back Burnside's
army from those heights — and 50 guns, all so strongly posted
that one defender was worth two or three assailants.
Of course General Sedgwick could not forget that the
task assigned to him was to carry with his single corps a
position from which four months before full half of the army
of the Potomac had been beaten back with terrible loss. He
cannot be blamed for acting with considerable caution under
all the circumstances. And yet, with all allowances, it must
be admitted that it was a great pity that he should not have
pushed his columns along somewhat more vigorously that
night, carried the heights at an earlier hour next morning,
and hurried out toward Chancellorsville in the forenoon.
The two or three hours thus gained, might, and probably
would, have made all the difference in the result of the battle
of Chancellorsville. But even this mild suggestion seems
hardly generous in view of what was actually accomplished
by Sedgwick. For it has been truly said that his "brilliant
exploit in carrying the Fredericksburg Heights, and his sub-
sequent fortitude in a trying situation, shine out as the one
relieving brightness amid the gloom of that hapless battle." a
1 The Confederate divisions comprised from four to six brigades, and
contained nearly double the numbers of the Union divisions.
8 William Swinton.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 361
THE STORMING OF MARYE'S HEIGHTS.
On receiving the order above mentioned, an hour before
midnight, Sedgwick put his corps in motion for Fredericks-
burg. The head of Newton's division, which was
May 3, 1863. . '
in advance, was harassed and delayed by the
enemy's skirmishers, all the way, and it was daylight before
Howe's division, which came next, filed into the Bowling
Green road. Howe advanced to Hazel Run, on the south
of Fredericksburg and took position facing Marye's Hill.
Here he lay for four or five hours, while other troops were
getting into position, and while the enemy's lines were felt
by Gibbon, whose division occupied the town, and by Brooks,
whose division was on the left, along Deep Run. Sedg-
wick decided on a general assault on the works square in
his front, to be made by Newton's and Howe's divisions.
Howe got his order at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and at
once formed three storming columns, two of which, it will
be noticed, were commanded by Vermonters, and were com-
posed in part of Vermont regiments.
Before describing their brillant and successful assault,
some additional description of the ground may be of service.
The plain of Fredericksburg, as the reader already knows, is
encircled by a rim of highlands, rising in terraces to an
elevated plain back of the city. On the edge of this table
ground, where it is nearest to the city, is the famous Marye
house and hill. Below this was a stone wall, built to face and
support a terrace, and forming a parapet along its front. An
extension of Marye's Hill to the south is known as " Cemetery
Hill." South of this and about half a mile from Marye's, a
higher eminence, called " Lee's Hill " after General Lee oc-
cupied it as his headquarters at the First Fredericksburg,
pushes out its bluffs to the plain ; and between these run
the valley and stream of Hazel Run, breaking from the plain
above and running easterly to the river. The heights of Lee's
Hill stretch southward a mile and a half, to the valley of
3G2 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Beep Run. In front of these the track of the Eichmond,
Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad, and the highway
(variously called the Old Kichmond Stage road, the Bowling
Green road and the Port Royal road,) divide the plain by
nearly parallel lines. The heights were crowned at every
commanding point with earthworks and batteries. Con-
federate infantry lined the stone wall, and other lines of
infantry lay in rifle pits at the foot of the heights. The
enemy's skirmishers occupied the railroad track.
Howe formed his troops along the Stage road for the
assault, the storming columns being composed as follows:
first column, General T. H. Neill commanding, Seventh
Maine, Seventy-seventh New York, Thirty-third New York,
and half of the Twenty-first New Jersey ; second column,
Colonel L. A. Grant commanding, Second Vermont, Sixth
Vermont, and Twenty-sixth New Jersey ; third column,
Colonel T. O. Seaver commanding, Third Vermont, Fourth
Vermont, and the other half of the Twenty-first New Jersey.
Two columns of attack were formed at the same time from
Newton's division, in the streets of Fredericksburg. These
were to assault the works on the right of Hazel Run, while
Howe's columns were to attack on the left of the run.
A more or less continuous artillery fire had been kept up
on the enemy's position during the forenoon, by batteries of
rifled guns on the north bank, and by some of Sedgwick's
light batteries along his line. This lulled for a time, but
opened again about noon, with redoubled energy, in prepara-
tion for the assault. At this signal the storming columns
started together. The order was to move at double quick
across the plain, push straight up the heights, and carry the
works at the point of the bayonet. This involved an advance
over three quarters of a mile of perfectly open ground, com-
manded at every point by the enemy's batteries ; the driving
of the enemy's infantry from their breastworks at the base of
the hills ; the ascent of heights too steep for a horse to
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 363
climb ;J and the storming of a double line of redoubts and
breastworks at the top ; — nor would the work be ended when
these were carried, for the batteries on Lee's Hill commanded
the position of Marye's Hill. The time for preparation was
short ; knapsacks were quickly unslung and piled by the road,
and in five minutes the lines were in order for the advance. In
five minutes more they swept out across the plain in splendid
style, forming a spectacle which none who witnessed it on
either side ever forgot. Each pushed rapidly forward, with-
out firing a shot. Early's batteries opened on them fiercely,
and with some effect ; but they moved too quickly to be kept
in range and suffered less than might have been expected.
The two storming parties of Newton's division, having less
distance to go, first reached the opposing works, drove two
regiments of Barksdale's brigade2 from their lower line,
pressed on to the crest, and carried the works to the right of
Marye's. They lost both their commanders3 and a good
many men ; but took all the guns in the works in their front,
and many prisoners.
Neill's and Grant's columns moved on the left of Hazel
Eun, driving the enemy from the railroad cut and rifle pits
beyond ; then bearing to the right crossed the ravine of Hazel
Eun, waded the stream, there two or three feet deep, and
moved up the southern slope of Cemetery Hill, to the left
of the stone wail. In the latter part of the charge, the
front lines became somewhat divided and mixed, owing to
the circumstance that the New Jersey regiments in each
line held back, while the two Vermont regiments, the Second
1 The commanders of the columns of Howe's division and the regimental
field officers of the Vermont regiments all left their horses, and went for-
ward on foot, in the belief that horses could not climb where they were
going.
2 The Eighteenth and Twenty-first Mississippi.
3 Colonel Spear of the Sixty-first Pennsylvania, killed, and Colonel
Johns of the Seventh Massachusetts, severely wounded.
364 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and Sixth, pushed on. The skirmishers (of the Seventy-
seventh New York) the Thirty-third New York, and the Sixth
Vermont, which passed two regiments whose place was in
front of it, entered the first line of works on the Heights
about together, the enemy falling back before them to their
second line.
Marye's Hill, in front of which a few months before
Hancock, French and Howard lost 4,000 men without fairly
reaching the stone wall, was thus carried; but the assail-
ants did not rest there, for the Confederate guns on Lee's
Hill to the left, and on the second crest in front which
Wilcox had just occupied with his brigade and Lewis's bat-
tery, were throwing shell and grape ; and there was plainly
work still to be done. The Sixth Yermont was accordingly
deployed as skirmishers, by order of General Newton, and
sent forward for the guns in front, which were about 600
yards away. In this the Sixth was efficiently aided by
Martin's battery.1 Martin had closely followed the infantry
lines, and ascending by the road to the crest, went at once
into battery near Marye's house, and began to make it warm
for Wilcox, at the same time that his right was attacked by
the Second Yermont. This had started across the plain below
with the Twenty-sixth New Jersey on its left. Coming under
an enfilading fire from the batteries on Lee's Hill, as well as
from the front, the New Jersey regiment first crowded to
the right, its line lapping that of the Second, and then
halted near the foot of the slope and opened a scattering and
harmless fire upon the works and batteries above. March-
ing the Second Yermont to the right a short distance by the
flank, to disentangle its line, Colonel Grant faced it to the
front and led it forward alone. The regiment was halted for
five minutes, to take breath, under the cover of the bank,
which was steep enough to afford protection from the showers
1 Battery F., Fifth U. S. Artillery.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. . 365
of grape and canister, and then pushed forward up the hill,
till it gained a line of rifle pits on the first crest, which, with
a brass field piece, had just been abandoned by the enemy.1
The regiment here halted and dressed its lines for the charge
on the second crest. Colonel Grant had meantime dis-
covered the Thirty-third New York back near the Eun, and
having ordered it up within supporting distance, the Second
again started forward, with two companies in front as skirm-
ishers. The enemy at this time showed no intention of leav-
ing the second crest ; but on the contrary opened a hot fire,
from which the Second suffered severely. Finding that his
men were dropping rapidly, and perceiving that the works
in front were strongly manned, Colonel Walbridge halted his
regiment, which vigorously returned the enemy's fire, till the
Thirty-third New York and Seventh Maine came up on its
right and left, when the line again advanced. Under the
combined assault, Wilcox, who had his entire brigade there,
with such of Barksdale's troops as had escaped from Marye's
Hill, gave way. The Union standards were planted in the
Confederate works, and Early's position on the right of Hazel
Eun was fully carried.
While these events were in progress, Seaver's column
had made an equally gallant advance across the plain, and
bearing to the left assaulted the works on Lee's Hill, which
were held by three Mississippi regiments of Barksdale's
brigade,2 and a regiment of Hays's brigade, with Frazer's and
1 An officer of the Twenty-sixth New Jersey thus describes this move-
ment : "As we approached the foot of the hills, we could see the rebel
gunners limbering up their pieces. The Second Vermont, which had got
a little ahead of us, were now moving up the steep slope on our right, in
beautiful line; and presently we also commenced the ascent. A terrible
volley thinned the ranks of the Vermonters; but they pressed on, and the
enemy began to give away. As we reached the top of the hill we could see
the flying foe, crossing through a gully and ascending the rise of ground
opposite. The terrible Fredericksburg Heights had been captured."
2Barksdale had divided his brigade, stationing two regiments on
Marye's Hill and sending three to Lee's Hill.
366 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Carlton's batteries. The Third Vermont was the first to gain
the crest, and at once engaged the enemy. The Fourth and
Fifth came up immediately. The enemy withdrew after a
short resistance and the position was carried. All this was
accomplished so speedily that Early, who had the bigger
part of his division within supporting distance, could not
reinforce his lines on the heights in time to save them. He
lost eight guns, three on Marye's Hill and the second crest,
and five on Lee's Hill. His loss of men was serious, Barks-
dale alone losing 606 men from his brigade, of whom 327
were reported missing, most of them having been captured on
Marye's Hill. Moreover Early was fairly cut off from the
rest of Lee's army ; and he would have been in serious trouble
if Sedgwick's orders had not been peremptory to march
toward Chancellorsville.
The reader will understand that it is not claimed that
the Sixth corps carried the heights of Fredericksburg in the
face of as many men and guns as those which threw Burn-
side back from their front. Early was not expecting Sedg-
wick's attack, and was not fully prepared to meet it. But
the heights were carried against heavy opposition. No
similar assault on the Southern side during the war equalled
this in brilliancy and success ; and in these respects it was
surpassed, on the Northern side, if at all, only by Lookout
Mountain and the final storming of Lee's lines at Petersburg.
The loss of the Sixth corps, in this brilliant passage of
arms, was little greater than that of the enemy — though the
latter fought with great advantages of position. The casu-
alties in the Yermont regiments were 132, of which number
105 were in the Second Vermont. Almost all of these
occurred in its assault on the second crest. The whole
affair did not occupy an hour. The brigade held the captured
works, till relieved, an hour later, by Brooks's division. The
Vermont regiments then returned to the plain to get their
knapsacks and some coffee, but soon hurried back, marching
THE FIKST BKIGADE. 367
through the outskirts of Fredericksburg, and went out over
the plank road with the rest of Howe's division.
The Sixth corps was now marching toward Chancel-
lorsville; Brooks had the advance and in his front was
Wilcox's Confederate brigade, which had fallen back from
the heights as far as Salem Church, four miles from Fred-
ericksburg. General Lee, having received the startling news
of the loss of the heights of Fredericksburg, and having
struck Hooker a stunning blow in the forenoon, at once de-
tached McLaws's division and a brigade of Anderson's divi-
sion to reinforce Wilcox and ward off the danger to his rear.
McLaws joined Wilcox at Salem Church, and Brooks soon
not only found his efforts to push forward resisted, but was
himself forced back by the constantly increasing numbers in
his front. He was having hot work, as Howe's division
marched out over the plank road; and a sorry stream of
wounded men was passing to the rear.1
The first hours of daylight next morning disclosed a
serious condition of affairs. Early, having discovered that
Sedgwick's movement had left the heights of Fredericksburg
substantially undefended, at daylight re-occupied the line
along the heights, from which he had been driven the day
before. Sedgwick was thus cut off from Fredericksburg, and
to the dangers on his front and left was added a new peril in
his rear. General Lee had, in fact, decided to make an end
of Sedgwick, before giving any more attention to Hooker.
He went to superintend the affair in person, taking with him
Anderson's division, and not doubting that with three divi-
sions, outnumbering the Sixth corps by four or five thousand
men, he could drive it into the river. Sedgwick, on his part,
supposed that he was even more heavily outnumbered ; but
'Among them, many Vermonters noticed, in an ambulance, Captain
Theodore Read, of General Brooks's staff, formerly the assistant adjutant
general of the Vermont brigade.
368 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
he prepared to make the stoutest resistance possible. Howe's
division was faced about to the rear, that is to the east, to
receive Early. Brooks's division was placed at right angles
with Howe, facing south, and confronting Anderson. Newton,
facing west and with his right on the river at Banks's Ford
was opposed to McLaws. In other words the lines of the
Sixth corps formed three sides of a hollow square, enveloped
by the enemy.
Howe, with but two brigades, numbering all told less
than 6,000 men, had a line of two miles long to hold, extend-
ing from the turnpike or plank road,1 on which they had
marched out from Fredericksburg, nearly to the river. The
Vermont brigade held the right of the line, its own right
resting on the road and connecting at an angle with the left
of Brooks's division.
Lee spent most of the day in getting his troops into
position, reconnoitring, and feeling of his enemy, in one of
which operations Early felt a point on Howe's line, and lost
200 men and a battle flag, of the Fifty-eighth Virginia. He
finally decided to make his main attack on the right and
centre of Howe's line, intending to break through, take Sedg-
wick's lines in reverse on right and left, and cut off and
capture as much of the Sixth corps as he did not destroy.
His preparations were not completed till five o'clock in the
afternoon. A few minutes after that hour the right and
centre of Howe's line were attacked, " with a violence," says
that general, "that I had never before encountered." Early 's
assault was made by the brigades of Hays, Hoke and
Gordon, moving en echelon. In preparation for it Howe had
formed his division in a double line. The front line con-
sisted of Neill's brigade and the Fifth Vermont, with a
line of skirmishers in front, consisting in part of two com-
1 This plank road became a common turnpike two or three miles out
from the city.
MARYE'S
AND
SALEM HEIGHTS
MAY 3r-d & 41-" 1863.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 369
panies of the Fifth under Major Dudley. The other regi-
ments of the Yermont brigade and a battery formed the
second line, arranged as follows from right to left : Third
Yermont, Rigby's battery, Sixth Yermont, Second Yermont,
Twenty-sixth New Jersey, and Fourth Yermont. The last
named regiment was posted well to the front in the edge of a
piece of pine woods, with a ravine and open field in front of
it. The line of the other regiments extended along a slight
swell of ground, the crest of which afforded partial protection
to the guns, and to the infantry when lying down. In this
order Early's assault was awaited. As it developed, battery
after battery came into position on the crests in front of
Howe, and the shells began to whiz and crack along his lines.
Heavy masses of Confederate infantry next appeared, moving
down the slopes in successive lines. Their onset grazed
Brooks's skirmish line, and then fell heavily on Howe's right
and centre. Dudley's skirmishers received the advance, fall-
ing back inch by inch, and resisting the enemy's skirmishers
till his front line of battle came up. As this crossed a swell
in front of the Fifth Yermont, it bore to its own right to
strike Neill's front. Seizing the opportunity thus offered,
Lieut. Colonel Lewis at once swung forward the right of his
regiment and poured into the gray ranks sweeping past his
front a terrible enfilading fire, which, in the opinion of Colonel
Grant, disabled a much greater number of the enemy than
there were men in the regiment. The Fifth kept this up till
the second Confederate line came up. As this extended be-
yond his right, to prevent it from enfilading him and reaching
his rear, Colonel Lewis now drew off his regiment by the flank,
through a depression of the ground behind him, and passing
in the rear of the Third, took position in the second line.
Neill's line to the left had in the meantime been as-
sailed with great fury, and began to give way after heavy
loss.1 The second line must now receive the stress of the
1 Neill lost in all, that evening, About 1,000 men.
24
370 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
assault, and on its steadiness depended the maintenance of
Howe's position, and the life of the corps. Some fresh dis-
positions were hastily made by Colonel Grant to meet the
emergency. The Twenty-sixth New Jersey was moved to
the right and a little forward, to present a front from that
quarter, and to leave the veteran regiments of the brigade
together where the brunt of the rebel assault was likely to
fall. The Second Vermont was moved to the left into the
place vacated by the New Jersey regiment, and the Third
Vermont took the place of the Second, leaving the Sixth on
the extreme right of the brigade line. Flushed with their
success thus far and sweeping before them a portion of
Neill's brigade like froth on the crest of the wave, with the
"rebel yell" rising shrill above the din of the strife, the
Confederate lines now came in on the charge. The New
Jersey regiment received Hoke with a volley, which stag-
gered but did not stop him, and as he pressed on the Jersey-
men broke and fell back in extreme disorder.1 The surge of
attack now struck the Second Vermont with even added
impetus; but it had met a different obstacle. The men of
the Second, who had been kept down, rose, and opened a fire
which from its rapidity and intensity seemed like a continu-
ous volley, and the Confederate line quailed. As soon as the
demoralized Jerseymen, passing through to the rear, had got
away from its front, the Third Vermont took part in the
music, and added a hot fire to that of the Second, under
which Hoke's lines halted and broke. Hays's brigade on
his right, however, still pressed on, obliquely, till it met the
Fourth Vermont, whose position, as has been mentioned, was
somewhat in front of the general line of the brigade. Colonel
1 "We were not the only regiment that was broken on that fearful
Monday night ; and when veterans were compelled to give way we might
be pardoned for doing the same ; but many look back on that moment with
regret. Reaching a brush fence the Twenty-sixth rallied."— Notes of an
officer of the Twenty-sixth New Jersey, quoted in New Jersey and the
Rebellion.
THE FIRST BEIGADE. 371
Stoughton threw back the right wing of his regiment so as
to oppose a squarer front to the enemy, and received Hays
with a fire which cleared the slope of the ravine in Stough-
ton's front ; and the tide passed along it to his left. To pre-
vent being flanked from that quarter, he again changed front,
refusing his left, and held the masses in front of him in check,
till the Fifth Vermont arrived from the right and took
position on his left. The Fifth here commanded the ravine
and the crest on the left of it, and made the left of the
brigade line secure for the time. The assault now lulled
for a few moments, only to rage with fresh fury. Hoke and
Hays rallied their men and renewed the attack with great
vigor. They met at every point a wall of fire, and could
nowhere break through the line of the Vermont brigade.
But on its right a gap in the lines had been opened by the
gradual moving of the regiments to the left. Perceiving
this, Early now tried to push into this opening and turn the
right of the brigade. The Sixth Vermont here held a low
crest, behind which they were lying down. Colonel Barney
kept his men down, as several Confederate regiments ad-
vanced, shouting and shaking their battle flags. They came
on at double quick to within twenty feet of the line of the
Sixth, when, at the word, the regiment rose, fired a volley
full in their faces, then charged in turn and drove them at
the point of the bayonet down the slope and to the crest
beyond. The Sixth took in this counter charge, a colonel,1
a lieutenant colonel, a major and 17 other officers, and 237
enlisted men. A portion of the Twenty-sixth New Jersey,
who had been rallied by Colonel Martindale, advanced with
the Sixth Vermont and took part in this splendid charge.2
1 Colonel Stafford of the Ninth Louisana.
2 A member of the New Jersey regiment describes the transaction as
follows : "The Sixth Vermont lay behind a little rise of ground, awaiting
the onset of the rebel hosts. Although the enemy was at least three times
their number, for there was a whole brigade of them, the gallant Vermonters
372 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The Confederate lines now fell back from the entire front
of the Vermont brigade, leaving the ground strewn with their
dead and wounded, while among the prisoners taken by the
Vermonters were men of seven Confederate regiments — the
Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Louisiana, and the Sixth, Twenty-
first, Twenty-fourth and Fifty-seventh North Carolina. Early
was thus fairly repulsed on the right and centre of Howe's
division. But the left of the division, consisting of a portion
of Neill's brigade, after contesting its position against heavy
odds, had been pushed back far enough to endanger the left
of the Vermont brigade, and Colonel Grant had withdrawn
the Fourth Vermont a short distance, when a battery and
two regiments 1 sent over from Newton's division by General
Sedgwick arrived, and extended Grant's line to the left. The
battery rendered good service ; and Early's progress was soon
checked. General Howe says of this portion of the action :
"The enemy, apparently thinking our left was giving way,,
"rallied and confidently advanced until they brought their
"flank opposite the woods in which was placed those sterling
"soldiers of the Vermont brigade. At the favorable moment
"this brigade opened its fire on the flank of the enemy's
" columns, and immediately the batteries in front opened a
" direct fire. The effect of this flank and direct fire on the
"enemy was most marked. In a short time not a hostile
"shot came into our lines. Darkness now came on. Soon
"the moon rose and lighted up the field; but not a rebel
"could be seen between our lines and the Heights of Freder-
"icksburg."
let them come on until they were actually within a few feet of them, and
then, rising, poured in a volley which literally decimated the foe. They
fled hastily, and the Sixth corps was saved. It was now our turn and the
Vermonters, followed by the Twenty-sixth, pressed forward on the flying
foe, until we reached the brow of the hill from which they had come. As
we went we took a great many prisoners."
1 Battery G., Second U. S. Artillery, Lieutenant Butler; Ninety-eighth
Pennsylvania and Sixty-second New York.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 373
As General Lee waited till Early should secure a positive
advantage before he pushed in at any other point, the other
divisions of the Sixth corps were not assaulted in any force,
and the contest of Monday evening was the last serious
fighting of the Chancellorsville campaign.
General Sedgwick, having received no help or encourage-
ment to expect help from General Hooker, and believing that
he had in his front two-thirds — as he actually had a majority
— of Lee's army, decided to fall back that night to Banks's
Ford, where a pontoon bridge had been laid, and to cross the
river, leaving Howe's division to the last to cover the move--
ment. The division accordingly faced the enemy till half-
past ten o'clock, when Howe began to withdraw, his rear
being guarded by the Vermont brigade. This held the front
till midnight, when it was withdrawn. The order to retire
was received with some astonishment by the men, as
they had fully repulsed the enemy and knew of no reason
why they should leave the field. But it was of course
obeyed. The brigade fell back slowly over the two miles of
ground between it and Banks's Ford, halting frequently, and
finally forming a new line of battle, in the small hours, to
guard the bridge head while the rest of the corps was
crossing. A strong skirmish line, supported by the Second,
Third and Sixth Yermont regiments, under the command of
Colonel T. O. Seaver, acting division officer of the day,
screened the movement. The skirmishers repulsed a slight
attack and held their ground till the corps had crossed the
bridge, which a Confederate battery up the river was now
shelling. About three o'clock in the morning the three regi-
ments withdrew across the river, and lastly the skirmishers
were safely brought off by Major Dudley, reaching the river
just before daylight, in a dense fog, to find the bridge on
which they had expected to cross, cut loose from the south-
ern bank and swinging down stream. All, however, save
a few severely wounded men who had been left in a barn
374 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
half a mile back, made out to get across, some in
toon boats, and some by a bridge lower down the stream \
and as the daylight crept over the eastern hills the last of
the brigade marched wearily np the heights on the northern
shore. They dropped as soon as they were halted and slept
till noon, their rest hardly broken even by the sheila from
the enemy's batteries across the river, which fell along the
lines of sleeping soldiers.
The next night Hooker, against the wish and advice of
some of his best generals, returned to his former camp on
the north side of the Kappahannock. The campaign cost
him his reputation as commander-in-chief ; and Lee the
life of his best lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson.1
As for the Army of the Potomac, none of its members,
except those of the Eleventh corps, felt any of the disgrace
of defeat. They knew that the army had been beaten only
by its own commander or by the lack of a commander. In
the Sixth corps, and especially in Howe's division and in the
Vermont brigade, the feeling of the troops approached exulta-
tion. Of the thirteen guns lost by the Army of the Potomac
not one belonged to the Sixth corps ; while Sedgwick was able
to say in his report, that his corps " captured 15 pieces of
artillery, nine of which were brought off, five battle flags,
and 1,400 prisoners, including many officers of rank;" and
that "no material of any kind belonging to the corps fell
into the hands of the enemy, except several wagons and a
forge, that were passing through Fredericksburg at the time
1 The following grim interchange of wit between Union and Confed-
erate pickets took place shortly after Hooker's failure and Stoneman's
cavalry raid:
Rebel picket— Where's Hooker gone ?
Union picket — Gone to attend Stonewall Jackson's funeral.
Rebel — Say, has the Eleventh corps stopped running yet ?
Union— Oh, yes, they stopped soon after taking down your Stone wall.
By the way don't you want our Stone-man to set him up again ?
Rebel— No, Jackson don't need any Yankee raid-iating, where he's gone.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 375
of its re-occupation by the enemy." General Howe and the
men under him could claim that the Second division stormed
five of the works on Marye's Heights, assisted in carrying
Cemetery Hill, took six of the eight guns captured on the
heights, all of which were brought off; and did substantially
all the fighting of May 4th, "without losing a gun or a
prisoner to the enemy."1 The rest of the army appreciated
these facts, and from this time on, the white cross of the
division became a badge of high honor, and was worn with;
especial pride by those who bore it.
Colonel Grant issued an order to his brigade, in which
he said: "You stormed and took the heights of Fredericks-
"burg, which it is believed was one of the most brilliant feats
" of the war. You took three pieces of artillery and many
" prisoners. And although you are not in possession of those
"heights, you were not driven from them; but left them to
" advance on a retreating enemy. At the battle near Banks's
"Ford, you sustained the attack of a vastly superior force,
" no less than three brigades, and repulsed the enemy with
"great slaughter, taking many prisoners, among them several
"colonels, majors and line officers. Your undaunted courage,
"unbroken front, steady aim and brilliant charge, give you
"title to the highest praise. The thanks of the colonel com-
" manding are freely given. In you he has the fullest con-
"fidence and the greatest pride."
Such praise of the Vermont regiments was not confined
to their brigade commander. General Sedgwick said in his
report : " It is no disparagement to the other regiments of
corps, to say that the steadiness and valor of the Sixth Maine,
Fifth Wisconsin, Seventh Massachusetts, and the Vermont
brigade, could not be excelled ;" and he included Colonel L.
A. Grant, among the brigade commanders whom he com-
mended to the special notice of the commanding general for
1 General Howe's Report.
376 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
their "skill and personal gallantry." General Howe said:
"I desire especially to mention General Neill and Colonels
Grant and Seaver, for the gallant and intrepid manner in
which they led the storming columns to the assault [on the
heights.] Nothing has been more handsomely or success-
fully done." He also mentions the "important and efficient"
services rendered by Colonel Grant and his brigade in main-
taining his line against heavy odds, in the battle of the next
day. Colonel Grant, in his report, mentions as deserving the
highest praise, Colonels Walbridge, Seaver, Stoughton
Barney and Lewis ; and specially commends Colonel Seaver,
for his services as division officer of the day ; Lieut. Colonel
Pingree, commanding the Third, while Colonel Seaver was so
detached; Major C. P. Dudley of the Fifth Vermont for
services in bringing off the skirmish line at the Ford ; Acting
Quartermaster A. Austin ; and Captain A. Brown, and
Lieutenants Forbes, Bain, Butterfield and French of his
staff. Of the line officers and rank and file he says : "Too
much praise cannot be awarded to the officers *.nd men for
their steady, brave and gallant conduct. The men did their
duty, and the officers were there to direct and encourage.
With the exception of the Twenty-sixth New Jersey,1 not
an officer failed to come to time ; not a man straggled from
the ranks. When a regiment moved it did it almost with the
precision of ordinary drill. All did their best. None left
their ranks to dash forward, none to fall to the rear.
They could not have done better." This was high praise.
Beyond doubt the part taken by the Vermont brigade
in this campaign and battle did more to establish its
reputation as a fighting brigade, than any previous passage
of its history.
1 Colonel Grant adds later, that the Twenty-sixth New Jersey "re-
deemed itself and left the contest a victorious and compact regiment."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 377
The losses of the Vermont regiments were as follows :
MAT 3d.
Killed. Wounded. Died of wounds.
Second Vermont Regiment, 11 94 7
Third " 16 0
Fourth " " 01 0
Sixth, " " 18 0
Total, 13 109 7
MAY 4th.
Second Vermont regiment, 6 20 4
Third, " " 2 24 1
Fourth, " " 1 22 0
Fifth, " " 3 11 1
Sixth, " " 4 46 6
Total, 16 123 12
The aggregate of the losses of the two days was 29 killed
and 232 wounded, of whom 19 died of their wrounds. A few
were reported missing at the time, but as usual they came in
later, or were accounted for among the killed and wounded.
Captain Luther Ainsworth of the Sixth was among the killed,
and 11 line officers were wounded, one of them, Lieutenant
Gleason of the Second, mortally.
What proportion of the loss inflicted on the enemy may
be credited to the Yermont brigade, cannot of course be ac-
curately determined. Early reported his loss at 136 killed,
838 wounded, and "some 500" missing — these figures not
including the loss in Barksdale's brigade or in the artillery.
The missing must have been more numerous than he states
by several hundred ; for of the 1,400 prisoners captured by
the Sixth corps, almost all were from Early 's command.
Adding Barksdale's loss of 600, Early's loss could not have
been less than 2500, killed, wounded and captured ; and
of this number a very large proportion were killed, wounded
and taken by the Vermonters. Colonel Grant estimated the
prisoners taken by the Vermont brigade in the repulse of
Early at " at least 1,500 ;" but owing to the withdrawal of
the brigade, and the darkness which prevailed at the close
378 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of the engagement only about 400 were actually brought in.
"Many prisoners," says Colonel Grant, "were sent to the
rear as fast as captured, sometimes with one man as guard,
and sometimes with none ; and after dark they managed to
remain behind, when our line was shortened." Among the
Confederate officers who fell in front of the position of the
Vermont brigade was Brig. General Hoke, who received a
"painful" wound. Colonel Grant's estimate that his brigade
inflicted five times the loss it suffered was probably within
bounds.
In the afternoon of May 5th, the Sixth corps moved
three or four miles toward Falmouth, and lay there two
days while the army marched by on its return to its old
lines. On the 8th the corps marched back to White Oak
Church and went into camp, the Yermont brigade camping
about a mile back of its former camp, near Belle Plain.
The Sixth corps was now on the left of the army, and
the Vermont brigade on the left of the corps. Here a
month was spent, while Lee was preparing for his second
invasion of the North; and Hooker, his army reduced to
80,000 men by the expiration of the terms of nine months
troops and the losses of the last campaign, was waiting he
knew not for what. It was a pleasant month for the troops.
The forests assumed their summer dress. The weather was
delightful. The camps were shaded with pines, and rustic
halls with vestibules and arches and alcoves of evergreen,
rose at the headquarters of the generals. Many ladies, wives
and relatives of officers, visited the camps. There were
balls, and "sounds of revelry by night," in these rustic
palaces. The Vermonters rebuilt their brigade bakery;
rations were good and ample; the health of the regiments
was excellent; and the men made themselves comfortable
for the day and the hour, with the soldier's lack of care
for the morrow.
CHAPTEE XV.
THE FIRST BRIGADE— CONTINUED.
Preliminary movements of the Gettysburg campaign — Preparing to cross
the Rappahannock— The Fifth Vermont crosses in boats and captures
the Confederate pickets— The rest of the brigade follows — Sharp skir-
mishing on the south bank — The march to the north — Meeting of the-
First and Second Vermont brigades — Hard marching in Maryland
— " Put the Vermonters ahead and keep the column closed up." — Gen-
eral Meade succeeds Hooker— Arrival on the field of Gettysburg
— The part taken by the brigade in the battle — Engagement at Funks-
town — Recrossing the Potomac— The brigade goes to New York city
— Services in sustaining the drafts — Return to and reception by the
Sixth corps — Marching and counter marching — Battle of Rappahannock
Station — The Mine Run campaign — Winter at Brandy Station.
General Lee began his march to the north with great
secrecy on the 3d of June, leaving the corps of A. P. Hill in
the lines of Fredericksburg to mask the movement.
General Hooker, who was expecting some hostile develop-
ment, was not slow to discover that Lee had an expedition of
some sort on foot ; and on the 4th orders to be ready to march
at a moment's notice with three day's rations, warned the
army that its time of quiet was about over. Sedgwick was at
the same time directed to march his corps to the river below
Fredericksburg and to throw a division across, to feel of the
enemy's lines and discover if any considerable portion of Lee's
army remained in them. For this service he selected Howe's
division, and on Friday, June 5th, it broke camp and marched
to the river at Franklin's crossing. As it reached the ridge
above the river at four p. M., several batteries were taking
380 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
position along the brow, and the pontoon trains were moving
down to the river bank. On the other bank the enemy had
a strong intrenched picket line, from which an annoying fire
was kept up on the pontoniers, as soon as the latter began
work. It soon became plain that the Confederates must be
cleared out of their rifle pits, if the bridges were to be laid
without serious loss. Four or five batteries were accordingly
advanced, and shell and grape began to plow the rebel breast-
works into ridges, almost hiding them in clouds of dust.
Sheltered in their pits, however, the Confederates kept their
place, and half an hour of vigorous artillery practice appar-
ently made no impression on them. General Howe thereupon
decided to try another plan and called on Colonel Grant for
two regiments to cross the river in pontoon boats, and drive
the Confederate pickets from their rifle pits. Grant sent the
Fifth Vermont and Twenty-sixth New Jersey. It did not
look like an agreeable errand, and a number of the Jerseymen,
whose time was about to expire, and, as they claimed, dating
their nine months from the date of their enlistment instead
of from their muster in, had expired, refused to start at the
order. The rest accompanied the Vermont boys, as at the
word of command they ran rapidly to the river, under a sharp
fire from the opposite shore, launched the boats with the aid
of the engineers, and piling into them pulled with a will across
the stream. Two boats, bearing as many companies of the
New Jersey troops, first reached the opposite shore. Two
companies of the Fifth, G., Captain Jenne and C., Captain
Barney, with Major Dudley, always foremost in duty or dan-
ger, followed close behind them. The Jerseymen, however,
on landing, halted under the shelter of the bank, while the
Vermonters as soon as they struck the shore, dashed up the
hill and pushed straight for the breastwork in front. Dudley
and Private Henry Moren of Company G., were the first to
spring into the rifle pits. The rest were close behind them,
and at Dudley's summons the Confederate outpost, consisting
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 381
of six officers and 84 men, threw down their arms and sur-
rendered without attempt at resistance. The other companies
followed as fast as boats could be procured; and it was a
lively scene for a time, as the men, cheering loudly, pulled
across the river, the boats returning laden with prisoners.
As fast as the troops crossed they were ordered forward
by Colonel Lewis, deploying as they advanced, till the line
was halted along the stage road, half a mile from the river.
Seven men of the Fifth were wounded during the crossing
It was a gallant and successful little affair. The bridges
could now be laid without hindrance. While the work was
in progress, the Second and Third regiments crossed in
boats, and were stationed on the opposite bank, the Fourth
and Sixth remaining till a bridge was completed, when they
marched across. The brigade was then deployed, encircling
the bridge head on the southern bank, with a picket line
thrown out for nearly a mile, confronting the enemy's pickets
a few rods beyond. That night a company of the Eighteenth
Mississippi, two officers and 34 men, on outpost duty in the
ravine of Deep Bun, came in and surrendered to the Union
picket reserve consisting of two Yermont companies,1 saying
that they supposed they were surrounded, and besides they
had "got enough of the war." Next morning the enemy's
skirmishers attacked the skirmish line on the left, held by the
Sixth Yermont. The firing was very sharp for two hours,
and there was more or less shooting all day. The enemy
to all appearance had two men to the Yermonters' one;
but the latter yielded no ground, and the enemy's stretcher-
bearers were kept pretty busy during the forenoon. By noon
a fresh supply of ammunition was called for, many of the
men having fired over thirty rounds apiece. In this skirm-
ishing the Sixth regiment lost four men killed and 13
wounded.
1 Company D. of the Fourth, and B. of the Fifth Vermont.
382 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
During Friday night and half of Saturday the Vermont
brigade was the only Union force on the south side of the
Rappahannock — with an entire Confederate corps posted
along the heights above them. Saturday afternoon another
brigade marched over, and shovels were called into play, and
rifle pits and breastworks made the position more secure.
It was not Lee's policy, however, to permit a serious en-
gagement at that time and place. On the other hand
Sedgwick found convincing indications that the heights were
still held in force; and he accordingly attempted no form-
idable demonstration. On the 8th, letters and orders cap-
tured in a cavalry engagement between almost the entire
mounted forces of both armies, at Brandy Station, revealed
the fact of Lee's presence at Culpepper, and his design of
invasion of the North. Then came the news that Lee's ad-
vance had pushed across the Blue Ridge into the Shenan-
doah Valley and was threatening Winchester. Hooker's
plan in this juncture was to attack and destroy Hill, and to
call Lee back by placing the army of the Potomac between
him and Richmond, and cutting off his communications. It
was a good plan ; but it found no favor at Washington. Mr.
Lincoln's quaint advice to Hooker was " not to take any risk
of being entangled upon the river, like an ox jumped half
over a fence and liable to be torn by dogs front and rear
without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other."
The alternative plan, to fall back on Washington by the
interior line, was consequently adopted; and the Army of
the Potomac was at once put in motion to the north.
The Vermont brigade moved with the Sixth corps at
nine o'clock on Saturday evening, June 13th. The men had
had eight days of almost constant marching, skirmishing and
intrenching, by night and day; but they started without com-
plaint. The night was dark; the roads, made slippery by
thunder showers, ran for miles through thick woods, and
the troops plunged on in the darkness, a long invisible pro-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 383
cession of laughing, singing, swearing, and stumbling soldiers.
At two o'clock next morning the corps halted north of Poto-
mac Creek ; and remained there that day, while the immense
army trains moved by, three or four wagons abreast, hurried
forward by voice and lash. Starting at nine that evening,
the corps had another night march, the way lit for miles by
the fires in the abandoned camps of the troops which had
been stationed there. After a short halt at Stafford Court
House, at daylight, the column moved on toward Dumfries.
The day was terribly hot, and the dust, stirred by tens of
thousands of hoofs and feet, rolled up in suffocating clouds.
Hundreds of men fell out ; many were sunstruck, and some
died by the roadside ; but the column pushed on, reaching
the depopulated old town of Dumfries at three o'clock,
when the exhausted men were permitted to throw themselves
down in the fields, rest their blistered feet, and apply the
internal remedies of " hard tack " and coffee. The brigade
had perhaps no more trying march, in all its history. Here
at Dumfries the Yermont brigade was drawn up in hollow
square to hear the sentence imposed on forty men of the
Twenty-sixth New Jersey, who had been court-martialed for
refusing to obey orders at the last crossing of the Kappahan-
nock, and to see part of it inflicted. The culprits were
drummed out of camp to the tune of the Rogue's March, and
were further ordered to be sent to hard service on the public
works; but this portion of the sentence was subsequently
remitted. On the 18th the New Jersey regiment was mus-
tered out, and the brigade thenceforth consisted of Yermont-
ers only.
The grateful sleep of the men that night was broken at
two A. M. by the order to fall in ; and at four the corps was
again in motion. In the afternoon it reached and forded the
Occoquan at Wolf Eun Shoals, where it crossed the outer
lines about Washington, there held by the Second Yermont
brigade. A rest of two hours, a chance to bathe, and a visit
384 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
with the Fourteenth Vermont, whose camp was at the Shoals,
refreshed officers and men after another hard and dusty day's
march; and they moved on cheerily six miles, to Fairfax
Station, having made about twenty miles in fourteen hours.
Here the corps halted for a day, which was made the most
of in resting and visiting with the men of the Second Ver-
mont brigade and First Vermont Cavalry, who came in large
numbers to see the veterans whose praise was in the mouths
of all. The two brigades fraternized cordially on this their
first meeting, and parted with mutual good wishes.
While here the news came to the army that Ewell had
overwhelmed Milroy, at Winchester, and that Lee was push-
ing unopposed for Maryland ; and the halt was improved
to overhaul the corps trains, reduce officers' baggage, and
make other preparations for the hard marching and fighting
likely to come.
On the 18th, the brigade moved to Fairfax Court House.
On the 20th, the Sixth corps was sent to the southwest ten
miles, by the well worn way of Centreville, Bull Run and
Manassas Junction, to Bristoe's Station. Here it lay, picket-
ing a wide circuit, for three days, on two of which the
artillery duels in the fights between Pleasanton's and Stuart's
cavalry, near Snicker's and Ashby's Gaps, were plainly audi-
ble. On the rainy night of the 25th, the brigade returned
with the corps to Centreville, where the Second Vermont
brigade, which had now joined the army of the Potomac, was
found, and the two brigades marched near each other from
there to Maryland. Passing through Drainsville on the 27th,
the corps crossed the Potomac on pontoons, and bivouacked
that night near Edwards Ferry, once more on northern soil,
where crops of corn and ripening wheat told of undisturbed
cultivation, and made a landscape strongly in constrast with
the war-scathed region in which the troops had been for
eight months.
The army was doing some pretty good marching at this
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 385
time; and the corps made its twenty miles a day through
Poolesville, New Market and Westminster, reaching Man-
chester, Md., on the 30th, thirty miles southeast of Gettys-
burg, Pa., whither Lee was moving.
The Army of the Potomac now once more changed com-
manders. On the 27th, Hooker, provoked by the refusal of
General Halleck to permit the garrison of Harper's Ferry to
be attached to his army, resigned the command ; and on the
28th, Major General George G. Meade, the quiet, undemon-
strative, self-contained and efficient commander of the Fifth
corps, was placed at the head of the army.
MARCH TO GETTYSBURG.
During the 1st of July, the first day of the battle of
Gettysburg, the Sixth corps lay quietly at Manchester, un-
aware that the great battle which all expected had already
begun. At night, however, came orders to move to Gettys-
burg. Howe's division started at once, but was delayed by
the moving of other troops, and made but four or five miles
before daylight. It then struck the Baltimore and Gettys-
burg turnpike, and the corps moved off freely on the longest,
most rapid and most exciting day's march in its history. It
was thirty miles to the field, and it was on this march, when
the fate of the army and the issue of the war might depend
on the presence of the corps, that General Sedgwick compli-
mented the Yermont brigade by his famous order : " Put the
Vermonters ahead and keep the column well closed up." 1 As
the brigade crossed the State line into Pennsylvania, at eleven
1 " It was during this time that Sedgwick directed me ' to put the Ver-
monters ahead, and keep everything well closed up.' It was not the only
time he complimented the soldiers from Vermont. His compliments many
times cost them very dear ; for they were the high compliments of placing
them> on many battlefields, in the foremost position of danger." — Colonel
M. T. McMahon, Adjutant General Sixth Army corps.
386 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
A. M., the first shadow of the great battle-cloud reached it, in
a rumor, floating back along the road, that there was heavy
fighting in front, and that General Reynolds of the First
corps had been killed. About midday the regiments filed
into the fields beside the road and the men sank upon the
ground. " Make no fires, for there will be no time to cook
anything — only a fsw minutes for rest," was the instruction
as the line halted. All too soon came the summons to fall in
again, and the column started on. At Littletown, Pa., ten
miles from the field, the signs of strife became unmistakable
in carriages bearing wounded officers, and soldiers limping
into the village — the first of the " red rays " streaming from
the battle field, so soon to crimson earth and air and sky,
over all the country round.1 Pressing forward at a rapid rate,
and nearing the field, the sound of the battle, like a mighty
pounding echoing among the hills, became more distinct ; and
the battle clouds rising at the front and frequent puffs of white
smoke appearing suddenly high in air, told of showers of
bursting shells and shrapnel, raining upon serried ranks.
The sun was scalding hot, and the men, each loaded with
gun, blanket, haversack, cartridge box, five days' rations and
forty rounds of cartridges, had made already more than a
long day's march ; but they hurried on. The farmers' wives
and daughters along the way, brought water for the thirsty
defenders of the Union. The stragglers multiplied ; but few of
the Vermonters fell out, for every man felt that he was needed,
and wanted a hand in the battle that they hoped would end
the war.
1 "Already the corps was meeting the tide of wounded hastening with
desperate energy to the rear — that most demoralizing experience to a body of
troops approaching a battlefield. With scarcely any exception the tale they
told was one of disaster to the Federal army. ' You fellows will catch it ;
the whole army is smashed to pieces !' said more than one brawny fugitive
with a bleeding arm or a bandaged head, glancing over his shoulder as
though fearing the pursuit of a rebel column."— Army Letter.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 387
The roar of the combat grew louder and louder, and
filled the air with almost deafening volume, as between, five
and six o'clock, Howe's division, approaching the field from
the southeast by the Baltimore pike, crossed Eock Creek,
and halted, about a mile in the rear of General Meade's
headquarters and between the extremities of the great horse-
shoe line of battle. A mile to the left, but seeming to be not
half the distance, rose the wooded knoll of Little Hound Top ;
and from beyond it and to its right came the incessant roll
of musketry and thunder of artillery. The fiery Hood was
then making his desperate and well nigh successful attempt
to carry Little Bound Top, and Longstreet, having driven
back the Third corps, was endeavoring to break through on
Meade's left. Within the last three hours the Third, Fifth
and Second corps had lost 10,000 men. The army had thus
far lost about 20,000. It was an anxious time around General
Meade's headquarters. The Sixth corps was welcome.
" I was at Meade's headquarters," says Mr. C. C. Coffin,
describing the moment. "It was nearly six o'clock. The
" sound of battle grew louder and nearer. Hill was threatening
" the centre. A cloud of dust could be seen down the Balti-
" more pike. Had Stuart gained our rear ? There were anx-
" ious countenances around the cottage where the flag of the
" commander-in-chief was flying. Officers gazed with their
"field glasses. 'It is not cavalry, but infantry,' said one.
" ' There is the flag. It is the Sixth corps !' We could see the
"advancing bayonets gleaming in the setting sun. Faces
" which a moment before were grave, became cheerful. It was
" an inspiring sight. The troops of that corps had marched
"thirty-two miles during the day. They crossed Rock Creek,
"filed into the field past the ammunition trains, threw them-
" selves upon the ground, tossed aside their knapsacks and
"wiped the sweat from their sunburned cheeks."
They were not allowed to rest long, however, before the
order to fall in again came, and though it was supposed. to
388 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
mean an advance into battle, it was promptly and eagerly
obeyed. " The dashing readiness," says General Howe, " with
which the division went on to the field, on the evening of the
2d, after its long and continuous march of the previous day
and night, and the handsome way it bore itself during the
engagement, was worthy of its former reputation." Howe's
division was divided, Neill's brigade being sent to the right to
reinforce General Slocum, while the First Vermont brigade was
moved a mile and a half to the left and stationed near Little
Bound Top, in one of the most important and responsible
positions on the field, holding the extreme left of the army
of the Potomac, and picketing that flank of the army that
night. During the next and final day of the battle, while the
Second Yermont brigade was doing its first and last fighting,
and winning laurels on the left centre, the First brigade held
its position on the left, between the Taneytown road and
Bound Top. Some stray shot and shell came over into its
lines and spattered some of the men with earth ; but they
saw but little of the fighting which shook the solid ground
beneath their feet, and suffered no loss.
On the 4th, the Fourth regiment was on the picket line,
and was ordered forward a mile and a half, till it struck the
enemy's skirmishers, and had a little brush with them, in
which one man was wounded. This skirmish was about the
last fighting done on the field of Gettysburg.
That night' Lee began his retreat ; and the next morning
the Sixth corps, passing around Bound Top and across the
battlefield to the Fairfield road, followed on his rear for some
ten miles. The houses and barns along the way were full of
Confederate wounded, in charge of their own surgeons. A
mile or two beyond Fairfield, the Fairfield pass opens across
the mountains. Through this Lee retreated with the mass
of his army, leaving a rear guard so strongly posted in the
gorge that Sedgwick did not venture to try to force the pass
without distinct orders, though he reported that he could
THE FIKST BRIGADE.
389
do it if so directed. He remained in front of it during the
6th, when, General Meade having concluded that he could
make a more effective pursuit by a flank route, the corps
was withdrawn, save a single brigade left to harass the
enemy's rear, and marched due south, by way of Emmetts-
burg and Lewistown, till it nearly reached Frederick, when
turning west, it struck across the Catoctin mountain range,
to Middletown. The crossing of the mountain was effected
over a narrow and rocky mountain path, through Highland
Pass, in the rainy night of the 7th. The march was a
scramble up and a tumble down the mountain, in the dark-
ness, and the soldiers, wet, muddy, footsore, and in hun-
dreds of cases barefooted, were glad to halt and rest the
next day near Middletown, where Meade's army was con-
centrated.
On the 9th, the corps, turning to the northwest, marched
across the South Mountain by Middletown Pass, to Boons-
boro. Thence, turning back to the north, the Sixth corps
moved up the Antietam Valley toward Hagerstown, where a
large part of what was left of Lee's army lay, the rest being
stretched for seven miles along the road from Hagerstown to
Williamsport on the Potomac, waiting for the river to sub-
side, and for a pontoon bridge to be built which should take
them back to Virginia. General Meade had made a wide
detour, and having marched his army two miles for his
opponent's one, was now fairly on Lee's flank.
FUNKSTOWN.
Two miles below Hagerstown is the little village of
Funkstown, notable as the spot where the First Vermont brig-
ade held a skirmish line against repeated attacks of strong
Confederate lines of battle. This engagement occurred on the
10th. Howe's division headed the column of the corps, that
day, preceded by Buford's cavalry. Moving toward Hagers-
390 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAll.
town along the turnpike, in the early morning, Buford came
on the enemy's cavalry about three miles out from Boons-
boro, and drove them for three miles, to and across Beaver
Creek, a small stream emptying into the Antietam, south of
Funkstown. Following the cavalry, Howe crossed the stream,
and, under orders from General Sedgwick, halt-
July 10, 1863. ' , , , ,, .
ed to wait for the rest of the corps. During
the forenoon Buford, after driving the enemy's cavalry
through Funkstown, found himself confronted by a strong
force of Confederate infantry, with artillery, which advanced
from their entrenchments and gave him battle. He fell
back fighting to a crest just south of Funkstown, where
he made a stand. While his men were holding the enemy
in check, Buford rode back, in person, to Howe, whose
division was a mile and a half back, to ask him to come
on and relieve him, as his men were getting out of am-
munition. Howe's orders were such that he did not feel
justified in advancing without authority from General Sedg-
wick. To procure this took some time, and Buford, whose
troopers, fighting dismounted, had exhausted their carbine
cartridges, drew off his command to the right before the
infantry supports arrived. General Howe at once — it was
now noon — ordered Colonel Grant to occupy the position
in front with his brigade, and Grant, seeing that there was
no time to be lost, immediately moved forward. Deploying
the Fifth and Sixth regiments as skirmishers, he hurried
them to the wooded crest from which the cavalry had
retired. It was a race with the enemy's skirmishers to gain
the crest; but the Yermonters reached and occupied it first
and did not leave it. The position was a good one, with
a fair amount of cover for the men. The skirmish line, when
formed, stretched nearly two miles along the crest. The
Sixth Vermont was on the right, its right posted in a piece
of woods, and the Fifth on the left. A gap between the
left of the Fifth and Antietam Creek was filled by two com-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 391
panies of the Second. The rest of the Second regiment was
held in reserve ; and the Third and Fourth regiments sup-
ported a battery which General Howe had sent forward, to
meet artillery with artillery. The enemy soon opened a very
severe fire from several batteries near Funkstown ; and it
became clear that he was in strong force there and that the-;
position was an important one to him. In point of fact Lee^
had been brought to bay by his antagonist and the elements \,
and he was that day disposing his army, two or three miles
away, for the desperate encounter which he fully expected.
It was of very great consequence to him to guard the ap-
proach from Funkstown to his position while making his dis-
positions and throwing up his intrenchments, and Anderson's
brigade, of Georgia troops1, commanded at this time by
Colonel White, Anderson having been wounded at Gettys-
burg, was sent to hold back the Union advance, as long as
possible, along the line of Antietam Creek. To this end the
Confederate commander wished to occupy the crest in ques-
tion. Colonel Grant saw that the enemy wanted it ; and ac-
cordingly decided to hold it. He took the sharp artillery fire
to mean an infantry attack to follow, and prepared to meet
it. The Third regiment was sent forward to support the
Sixth, three companies of the Third being deployed to
strengthen the centre of the skirmish line, which was every-
where much extended. In like manner the Fourth was sent
to support the Fifth, and two companies put in to strengthen
that part of the skirmish line. The eight companies of the
Second not on the skirmish line supported the battery. The
orders to the Colonels were to hold the line at all hazards.
1 Consisting of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh and Fifty-ninth
Georgia, and Tenth Georgia battalion. Colonel Grant speaks of the Con-
federate force as "Anderson's old brigade, of seven regiments." If this
number is correct, another regiment was attached to the brigade in this
engagement.
VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
About two o'clock and while the supports mentioned were
moving into position, the enemy advanced in full line of
battle, preceded by skirmishers, against the centre of Grant's
line. The Confederates probably supposed that the skirm-
ishers before them were dismounted cavalry and expected
to brush them away with ease. But the Vermonters did not
budge an inch, but stood and met the lines of gray with a
fire so close and deadly that they recoiled and fell back to
cover. Having reformed his line, White again advanced,
throwing out at the same time a regiment from his right, ,o
ford the Antietam and take Grant's line in reverse from the
left. To meet this, Colonel Walbridge was sent to the left
with the left wing of the Second regiment ; and while the
brigade again repulsed the front attack Walbridge repulsed
the flanking movement, driving the enemy well back from
the stream and extending the skirmish line of the brigade
along it.
The brigade was now, with the exception of three com-
panies of the Second which remained as a su pport to the bat-
tery, all deployed on a skirmish line two miles long, with no
supports within a mile and a half. The men took advantage
of such partial shelter as they could get from the rail fences
and timber ; and when the Confederate line of battle again
advanced, they for the third time received and repulsed it,
and followed it up for a short distance towards Funkstown,
whither the enemy retired. As the centre of the enemy's
line fell back in confusion through a cornfield, some of the
Yermonters sprang upon the fence in front, and tauntingly
called on them to come back, as there was nothing there but
" some Yankee militia." Bat the discouraged Confederates
did not return. The men of the Vermont regiments had sixty
rounds of cartridges in their boxes and pockets, and many
of thorn used them all, and a fresh supply was sent for, and
was brought up on stretchers, during the engagement. At
no point was their skirmish line pushed back; and the
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 393
brigade held the ground the rest of the day and night
and till relieved by other troops of Howe's division, next
morning.
The Confederate brigade which suffered this rebuff was
a part of General Hood's division, and a portion of it re-
ceived the desperate charge of the Vermont cavalry at
Gettysburg. The deaths of Farnsworth and the Vermonters
who fell with him in that charge, were doubly avenged by the
men of the Old brigade, at Funkstown. Had the Sixth corps
been pushed in on Lee's flank after this transaction, and
properly supported, some serious trouble might have been
made for the army of Northern Virginia. But the orders to
the generals were not to bring on a general engagement ; and
General Lee was not molested. The exploit of the Ver-
monters, however, was a tall feather in the cap of the*
brigade, and they were not allowed to remain wholly
unconscious that they had done a good thing. Colonel
Grant in his report says: " It is believed that another in-
stance of a skirmish line, extending over so great a distance,
repeatedly repelling the assaults of strong lines of infantry
at different points, cannot be found in the history of any
war." General Howe said of it : "The troops that happened
to be there on our line, were what we considered in the Army
of the Potomac unusually good ones. They quietly repulsed
the rebels twice, and the third time they came up they sent
them flying into Funkstown."1 General Sedgwick, always
chary of praise, said in his report : " The Vermont brigade
(Grant's of the Second division) were deployed as skirm-
ishers, covering a front of over two miles, and during the
afternoon repulsed three successive attacks made in line of
battle. The remarkable conduct of the brigade on this
occasion deserves high praise."
l— General Howe, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.
Vol. I., 1865, p. 315.
394 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The loss of the brigade was nine killed and 59 wounded,
of whom seven died of their wounds, as follows : l
Killed. Wounded. Died of wounds.
Second Vermont Regiment, 16 0
Third " " .1 4 1
Fourth " 1 24 2
Fifth MM 86 0
Sixth " " 8 19 4
Total, 9 59 7
Colonel Stoughton of the Fourth, who distinguished
himself, as did all the regimental commanders, by his cool-
ness, had the misfortune to receive a bullet wound in the
head during the afternoon, which cost him his right eye, and
there were several line officers among the wounded. Colonel
Grant estimated the enemy's loss at not less than 200. Citi-
zens of Funkstown variously stated the rebel killed at from
30 to 50, and their wounded at from 100 to 150.
On the 12th, the Sixth corps moved on through Funks-
town, the Confederates falling back as it advanced, and
down toward Williamsport, where it formed line of battle
along the hills in front of Lee's lines, dimly seen through the
mist of a rainy day. But General Meade waited a day too
long to get forward his reserves, and during the dark and
foggy night of the 13th Lee succeeded in placing the swollen
current of the Potomac between him and his enemy. The
disappointment of his escape, was, however, alleviated for
the army, by the belief that the Confederates had got enough
of invasions of the North, and by the news of the fall of
Vicksburg ; while the "fire in the rear," of the draft riots
in New York, then in progress, intensified the determination
of every good soldier to fight the issue through, whether it
was to take one year or ten.
Countermarching on the 15th, the Sixth corps moved
'These casualties are erroneously reported in the U. S. Official Records
as occurring at the battle of Gettysburg.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 395
back to Boonsboro ; camped that night on the same ground
it occupied on the march from Maryland in October, 1862,
and crossing the South Mountain next day, moved down the
valley via Middletown and Petersville, to the Potomac at
Berlin. Here several corps were waiting for an opportunity
to cross the river by the bridge. The turn of the Sixth corps
came on Sunday the 10th, and as it moved back to the
sacred soil, the bands played : " O, carry me back to Old
Virginny."
The route of the corps down the valley was mainly the
same as that taken by it eight months before, except that
instead of going by White Plain and New Baltimore it kept
on to Salem, and thence was sent out toward Manassas Gap,
which had been occupied by the enemy. Ewell was driven
out of the Gap on the 23d, and the Sixth corps, not being
needed there, turned back and passing south by the way
of Orleans, halted and went into camp on the 25th, on the
hills just west of Warrenton. Howe's division here camped
about an old and ruined Baptist Church, surrounded by
a thick growth of timber. Here the brigade had five days
of comparative rest — the first since they left the Rap-
pahannock in June. The weather was hot and showery,
and the fields full of ripe blackberries, and the good effect
of wholesome fruit on the health of the troops was unmis-
takable. On the 1st of August the division marched to
Waterloo, six miles west of Warrenton, remained there five
days, and on the 6th marched back and camped two miles
from Warrenton Springs. General Lee in the meantime with-
drew his army to the south of the Rapidan. Drills and
inspections and light picket duty were the occupation of the
troops of Howe's division. 1
1 " It is safe to say that no division in the army performed more labor
in drills, than Howe's." — Surgeon Stevens.
396 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
SUMMER VACATION IN NEW YORK.
A novel piece of service now fell to the lot of the brigade.
The New York draft riots, in July, in which colored orphan
asylums, armories and draft stations were sacked and burned ;
black men hung from the trees and lamp posts; rioters
knocked from the tops of six-story blocks by the police and
provost guards ; and fights of the mob with the few regulars
on duty in the city took place, which left the streets strewn
with dead and wounded ; together with the subsidiary riots
in Jersey City, Boston, Troy and other places — had aroused
the strongest feeling throughout the North, and grave appre-
hensions on the part of the government. In consequence
of these disturbances, anc'l at the request of Gov. Seymour,
the draft had been suspended in New York city and other
places. But if the government was to sustain its authority
at homo, of course the draft could not stay suspended. The
Federal authorities determined that it should be resumed,
and inflexibly completed ; and they did not propose to leave
any opportunity for further outbreaks. General Dix, in
whose wisdom and resolution there was full reliance, was
in command of the department, with his headquarters in
New York. The cool and judicious Canby was detailed
to assist him, and two brigades of regulars — being about
all that was left of the regular army — under General E. B.
Ayres, was detached from the Army of the Potomac, and
ordered to New York. To this force the government decided
to add several thousand of the best volunteer troops in the
army — selecting for the purpose troops of tried courage and
steadfast loyalty, who could be depended on in any emer-
gency, and who would set an example of order, sobriety,
and general good conduct. For this service, the Vermont
brigade was the first volunteer organization selected. This
was done, not at all at the instance of any one connected
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 397
with the brigade; l and when an order came to the brigade
commander to turn in the quartermaster's supplies, march
to Warrenton Junction, proceed thence by rail to Alexandria,
and report to General Halleck for further orders, no one in
the command, high or low, had any idea where it was going.
The prevailing opinion in the corps was that the brigade
was wanted to carry Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor,
the attempt to storm which had just failed. Several indi-
vidual regiments of high character for discipline and reliabil-
ity were also detached — the whole making an "army of
occupation," for New York city, of some 12,000 men.
The order above alluded to was received by Colonel
Grant on the 10th of August. The Fifth Vermont, which was
out five miles, on picket, near Hart's Mill on the upper
Rappahannock, was at once recalled. The brigade broke
camp next day and marched to Warrenton Junction ; and on
the 13th and 14th the regiments went by rail to Alexandria,
embarked on the transports Illinois and Ericsson, and were
taken to New York, arriving there on the 20th. Here Colonel
Grant reported to General Canby, and was ordered to land
his brigade and march, without special parade, to Tompkins
Square, and to establish there his headquarters, stationing
three of his regiments there, one in Washington Square,
and one in Madison Square. The regiments landed and
went into camp in the squares named on the 21st and
22d. Two regiments of regulars that had been already
stationed in Tompkins Square — which was near " Mackerel-
ville," one of the worst parts of the city, swarming with
rioters and criminals — were also placed under the command
of Colonel Grant. The ammunition supplied to the troops
included no blank cartridges. The officers were resolute and
the men perfectly ready to obey orders ; and there would
1 It was stated, at the time, that General Sedgwick was asked to detail
his "best brigade," and that he at once designated the Vermont brigade.
398 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
have been no trifling about the business, if they had been
called on to face a mob. The law-abiding people of the
metropolis slept more soundly after the arrival of the troops ;
and the city was never more quiet, since its first settlement,
than during the draft which soon followed.
In the first week of September, the Second, Third, Fifth
and Sixth regiments were sent respectively to Poughkeepsie,
Newark and Kingston, N. Y., where drafts were ordered, and
took place, during their stay in those cities. A week later
they returned to New York, whence the regiments went by
rail and transports, on successive days, to Alexandria, where
the brigade was collected on the 16th. The respect of the
New York mob for the uniform and the authority of the
United States was noticeably strengthened by this little
campaign in the north. About the time of the departure of
the troops an order was issued by General Canby, compli-
menting them in high terms for their good behavior; and
the New York World said of them : " The admirable conduct
" of the soldiers and officers of the ' army of occupation ' in
"this city has been remarked by all classes of our citizens.
"The brawls, drunkenness and scenes of violence, which are
" so common in European cities where large bodies of troops
"are quartered, we are happily free from. Nothing could
"be better than the behavior of the troops now in New
" York. If the soldiers now in this city are a fair sample of
" our armies, we can safely claim having the best, in a moral
"sense, as well as the bravest and most patient troops on
"earth." On the other hand the troops were well treated
by the people of New York and the other cities where they
were stationed; and the brief return to civilization, the
scenes and pleasures of the city, and the opportunities to see
friends, hundreds of whom went down from Vermont to visit
the soldiers, made this episode in their army life as agree-
able as it was unwonted. Though the opportunities for
desertion were almost unlimited, the desertions from the Ver-
THE FIKST BEIGADE. 399
mont regiments were very few during their northern vacation.
On the 18th, in a pouring rain, the brigade started from
Alexandria once more, for the front, the soldiers taking their
overcoats which had been stored in that city since the pre-
vious spring. The brigade guarded on the march an army
train of 150 mule teams and 1,000 beef cattle, for the supply
of the army ; and as cattle move slowly the march was made
at moderate speed. It was over the old route, via Fairfax
Court House, Centreville, and the line of the Orange and
Alexandria Kailroad, which 10,000 men of the Eleventh
corps were at this time guarding against less than 1,000
guerillas.
Crossing the Eappahannock below the railroad bridge,
on the 22d, the brigade marched next day to Culpepper
Court House, around which the Army of the Potomac was
lying. The march past the camps of the various corps from
Brandy Station to Culpepper was quite an ovation for the
Vermont boys, the troops lining the roadside and cheering
them heartily. Three miles south of the village of Culpepper,
the brigade passed the camp of the Tenth Vermont, now
part of the Third corps, and halted there to exchange saluta-
tions. Two miles more brought it to the camp of the Sixth
corps. Here it was met by a cavalcade of corps, division
and brigade staff officers; and passing on to the camp of
Howe's division, General Neill's brigade was found drawn
up to receive the Vermonters, who were greeted with music
and military salutes, as well as by the less formal welcomes
of their old comrades. The brigade had made its mark in
the army, and its return was a welcome event. And though
camp life was quite a different thing from their " white-glove
service " in New York, the men had had about enough of the
latter, and were on the whole glad to be back again at the
front.
About this time some 600 recruits, chiefly drafted men
and substitutes, arrived, and were distributed among the
400 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Second, Third and Fourth regiments, and squad-drills were
plenty.
During the first week of October, after two weeks of un-
disturbed quiet, the Sixth corps was ordered forward to
relieve the Second corps, on the line between Cedar Bun
Mountain and Kobinson Biver — a small affluent of the
Bapidan. The corps was here to picket a line two miles
long, from Bapidan Station to the right. Across the stream,
a few rods away, was the picket line of the enemy. From
the signal station on the summit of the mountain near by,
the eye ranged over one of the finest views in Virginia, em-
bracing the scene of the battle between Banks and Stonewall
Jackson a year before. The long lines of fresh red earth,
winding with the river, showed that Lee had strongly
intrenched his position, and the course of the Bapidan could
be followed for 20 miles by the smoke of his camps. The
corps marched with eight days' rations, and with no little
growling on the part of the men that they should be "made
pack-mules to carry wormy bread," and the recruits especially
found the fourteen miles' march a trying one. The service
on the line — though requiring especial vigilance, was ami-
cable as between the opposing pickets, and daily exchanges
of newspapers, instead of bullets, took place between them.
The eight days' rations had not been exhausted, when a
movement on the part of General Lee, occasioned a sudden
withdrawal of the corps. Chafing under his reverse at
Gettysburg, and aware that two corps of the Army of the
Potomac had been detached and sent to Tennessee, Lee put
his army in motion, past General Meade's right, hoping
to place himself across the latter's communications with
Washington, and force a general engagement, on ground of
his own selection. Meade's first plan, when he discovered the
movement, was to attack Lee while crossing the Bappahan-
nock; but his purpose was defeated by erroneous informa-
tion and want of information, and the campaign became &
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 401
series of flank movements for position and finally a race of
the two armies for the heights of Centre ville. In the course
of these operations there was plenty of skirmishing, and
several sharp cavalry fights ; and an engagement of the Second
corps with A. P. Hill's division took place at Bristoe's Station,
in which Warren took 450 prisoners and five guns, with slight
Union loss. The Army of the Potomac was the first to
reach and occupy Centreville, and no general engagement
took place. In this campaign the Vermont brigade left its
camp fires burning below Cedar Mountain an hour before
midnight on the 10th, and stacked arms on Centreville
Heights at three o'clock p. M., on the 14th. The movements
of the brigade and the corps during that time were briefly as
follows : In the night of the llth, the Sixth corps crossed
the Kappahannock at Rappahannock Station. On the 12th
it re-crossed the river — the Vermont brigade leading and
taking position on the right bank to cover the re-crossing of
the Fifth and Sixth corps — and advanced to Brandy Station,
expecting to give battle to Lee at Culpepper Court House ;
but he was not there. The next night the corps camped two
miles south of Bristoe's, twenty-five miles as the crow flies
north of where it lay the night before, having marched thirty
miles between midnight of the 12th and nine P. M. of the 13th,
with two halts of several hours each at Rappahannock
Station and Warrenton Junction. The brigade camped that
night, with the corps, between Centreville and Chantilly, the
men tired and footsore, but plucky and prepared for the
battle, of which the sound of Warren's fight at the rear that
afternoon was taken to be the prelude. At daybreak next
morning the troops stood to arms, and in the afternoon a
skirmish between part of the Second corps and a cavalry
force with artillery, at Blackburn's Ford, aroused momentary
expectation of an order into battle. But Lee knew better
than to fight on ground so favorable to his antagonist ; and
after once more destroying a good part of the railroad
. 26
402 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
between Bull Run and Warrenton, he retired behind the
Rappahannock. The only loss sustained by the Sixth corps
in this movement, was from the guerrillas which infested the
region.1
The Sixth corps started back to the south on the 18th,
Howe's division moving over the old Bull Run battlefield to
Gainesville, where, about five o'clock p. M. on the 19th, it
met Ouster's brigade, of Kilpatrick's cavalry division, which
an hour or two before had been attacked on flank, front and
rear by Stuart and Fitz Hugh Lee, at Buckland's Mills, and
driven back in serious disorder. Lee was pressing on
Ouster's rear, and the sight of a Union infantry column was
not an unwelcome one to the latter. Letting Ouster's men,
among whom were the First Vermont cavalry, pass through
their lines, the infantry made hasty preparations to receive the
pursuers. A skirmish line consisting of the Sixth Vermont and
Seventh Maine was thrown forward, and had barely deployed
when the Confederate troopers came up in hot pursuit of a
light battery, which they would probably have captured in
the next five minutes. As they emerged from a piece of
woods, and dashed into the open in front of the Union
skirmishers, they were received with a volley and a cheer, and
their charge ended suddenly. They returned the fire; but
found minie balls too plenty about their ears, and soon dis-
appeared in the direction from which they came. Next
morning the brigade, leading the advance of Howe's division,
came again upon the Confederate cavalry, who retired before
them. At Buckland's Mills they passed the scene of the run-
ning cavalry fight of the day before, marked by the bodies of
several Union cavalrymen lying beside the road, stripped of
all but their underclothing. The march ended at Warrenton,
1 Among the captures made by the guerrillas were those of Captain
Gait, A. Q. M., and Lieutenant E. O. Cole of the Second Vermont, acting
provost marshal on General Howe's staff. Lieutenant Cole, however, after
being disarmed, made his escape from his captors.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 403
where General Meade made his headquarters, and where the
army remained nearly three weeks, while the railroad was
being rebuilt, and the army provisioned. "This campaign
of maneuvres," says Swinton, "added no laurels to either
army ; yet it was none the less attended with much toil and
suffering — sleepless nights and severe marches, and manifold
trying exposures. But this is a part of the history of the
army, of which those who did not bear the heat and burden
of the day, can never know much."
During the stay at Warrenton, the brigade was reviewed
by Colonel Grant, the division by General Howe, and the '
corps by General Sedgwick. The weather, which had been
cold, grew milder in the first week in November, and, as
usual, by the time the men had built huts and made their
quarters comfortable, the order: " Eeveille at half past four,
move at daylight!" came, and the Fifth and Sixth corps,
under command of General Sedgwick, started, November
7th, for the Eappahannock, along which lay the army of
Northern Virginia. It was mainly south of the river, Lee's
headquarters being at Brandy Station, but he was holding
also a position on the left bank at Kappahannock Station.
BATTLE OF RAPPAHANNOCK STATION.
General Meade now proposed to move the Army of the
Potomac rapidly to the heights of Fredericksburg ; but his
project was disapproved by General Halleck, and as the only
other practicable offensive operation open to him, he decided
to make a demonstration against Lee, whose men were
building huts and evidently expecting to go into winter quart-
ers where they were, and at least force him farther south.
His plan, which was successfully carried out, was to throw two
columns across the river. One, of three corps, under General
French, was to cross at Kelley's Ford; the other of two
corps, under Sedgwick, was to force the crossing at Kappa-
404 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
hannock Station. The two were then to unite and push on
to Brandy Station. French accomplished the crossing at
Kelley's Ford without much difficulty, taking 400 prisoners.
Sedgwick had a more formidable task at Kappahannock
Station. At that point, Early's division, so often opposed to
the Sixth corps; occupied the southern bank, with Hays's
brigade in the earthworks on the north bank, originally built
by the Army of the Potomac, which had been reconstructed
and turned into a strong tete de pont, guarding a ponton
bridge, by which communication was maintained between
the opposite banks. A dam below the works made the river
unfordable. The position was strong naturally, the redoubts
and rifle pits elaborate and well provided with artillery,
backed by batteries of heavy guns on the south bank. Hays
was reinforced, when Sedgwick's advance came in sight, by
Hoke's brigade.
Marching from Warrenton in the early morning, the
Sixth corps deployed in front of and a mile away from the
Confederate works at Eappahannock Station, at
Nov. 7, 1863.
noon. The men stacked arms and sat down to
eat their dinners, while the enemy's cavalry pickets, within
pistol shot, looked on, not a shot being fired from either side.
At one o'clock the corps was formed for the assault ; the first
division on the left, under General Russell — General "Wright
its commander being in command of the corps, while Sedg-
wick commanded the wing, consisting of the Fifth and Sixth
corps. Howe's division was on the right ; the Third division
General Terry, was in reserve. The first and second divisions
were each in two lines, and the Vermont brigade had the
right of the second line, curving round toward the river. A
portion of the Fifth Yermont was thrown out in front as
skirmishers. At two o'clock the corps advanced. The Con-
federate videttes whirled and fled ; the enemy's skirmish line
was encountered and driven in, and the lines advanced to
some higher ground in front. Here they came within range
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 405
of the enemy's artillery and were halted while the Union
batteries came to the front, and for three hours a heavy
artillery duel was kept up. While this was in progress the
Yermont brigade lay behind the crest from which the Union
batteries were firing. The enemy's shot and shell flew
thickly over their lines, and several casualties occurred, one
man of the Fourth losing a leg by a shell ; but the men
were kept close to the ground, and the stretchers were rarely
called for. The lines of the corps were gradually advanced ;
but nothing decisive took place till dusk, when six regiments
of the first division of the Sixth corps, led by General Eussell
in person, gallantly stormed the works, taking four guns, 103
commissioned officers, 1,200 enlisted men, 1,225 stand of
small arms and seven Confederate battle flags. Early lost
1,700 men killed, wounded and missing, out of 2,000 men of
Hoke's and Hays's brigades in the works. The loss of Rus-
sell's division was 336 killed and wounded and two missing^
The Sixth Maine suffered especially, losing 16 out of 24
officers, killed and wounded.
Howe's division was ready to co-operate ; but was not
needed, and the men had only to echo the final shout of
victory, which rang around the lines in the darkness. It was
something to be present at, and in support of, so brilliant an
exploit.
Early burned his end of his bridge that night, and the
next day Sedgwick threw a ponton bridge across and ad-
vanced to Brandy Station, Lee retiring beyond the Eapidan.
This was the seventh time the Yermont brigade had crossed
the Eappahannock, in advance or in retreat.
The camp of the Sixth corps at Brandy Station was on
the land of John Minor Botts, who used to assert that the
Army of the Potomac burned 600 miles of rails belonging to
him, in its first week at Brandy Station. It is true that his
fences and forests disappeared rapidly, but they were not all
taken by the Union soldiers. It is also true that the chief
406 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac paid him a good
deal of money for firewood for the army. The soldiers had
now two weeks or more of comparative quiet, during which
the Sixth corps was reviewed by General Sedgwick, accom-
panied by some English officers, and the division was paraded
to witness the punishment of two deserters by branding.
But one other movement of any consequence took place
before the army went into winter quarters. This was the
short and unsuccessful campaign of Mine Run.
Mine Eun is a muddy stream running through a deep and
marshy valley at right angles to the Eapidan, into which it
empties ten miles south of Brandy Station. The right of
General Lee's line rested along the left bank of this stream
and valley, which afforded a good natural protection. This was
strengthened by a line of intrenchments, extending back
several miles from the Eapidan. This line was held by Swell's
corps. Eealizing that the country was impatient of the inac-
tion of the army, and desiring to strike an effective blow at his
antagonist before the winter set in, General Meade decided
to throw his army in three columns across the Eapidan
below the mouth of Mine Eun, turn the right of E well's
position, and fall upon him from the rear. The movement
was to begin at daylight on the 26th, the Third corps, which
was nearest the river, moving first and the Sixth following.
The Sixth corps was moving at the hour, but found, on reach-
ing the camp of the Third corps, that that corps had not
stirred, most of its men being in fact still asleep in their
quarters. The troops of the Sixth corps accordingly had to
stand in the mud for hours, waiting for the Third to get in
motion and get out of the way. Further delays occurred
because the two ponton trains each proved to lack a boat of
enough to span the river, and instead of being at Eobertson's
Tavern, in the rear of Lee's right, before nightfall, the Third
corps did not begin to cross the Eapidan till after dark, and
the Sixth corps did not cross till midnight. The latter corps
THE FIRST BEIGADE. 407
moved on till one o'clock in the morning and then halted for
the rest of the night. The night was cold, the ground wet,
and the sleep of the soldiers brief and restless. In three
hours they were aroused, and the slow and interrupted march
was again resumed. Soon the scattered shots of skirmishers,
and an occasional discharge of field artillery, showed that the
enemy was awake, and the advance resisted. Had, however,
the commander of the Third corps, General French — to whose
sluggishness and irresolution the failure of the campaign^
must be attributed — even now showed any enterprise or
energy, the movement might have been successful. Coming,,
however, to a fork in the roads, General French halted for
hours, because he did not know which road to take, though
had he moved on by either he would have reached Robertson's
Tavern at eleven o'clock, at which hour the Second corps
reached that point by a much longer route, and the two
corps, supported by the Sixth, which crowded on the heels of
the Third, could at least have cut off and destroyed Swell's
corps. But French waited till he was confronted by a
division of Swell's corps, and allowed himself to be held in
check all the rest of the day by a force not a third as large as
his own. In the course of the afternoon, he received a per-
emptory order from General Meade to push on, and prepared
to force his way ; but was himself attacked while taking posi-
tion. He repulsed this and a succeeding attack, losing nearly
1,000 men, and did no more. Howe's division was sent for-
ward by General Sedgwick to assist French during the latter
part of the engagement, and was under fire from shells
coming over the lines fighting in front, but was not engaged.
That night Lee drew back his outlying forces and con-
centrated his army behind Mine Run, where he extended and
strengthened his earthworks, placed abatis of felled pines in
front, and made his position exceedingly secure. Another
day — Sunday, November 29th — a cold and rainy day, was
consumed by the army of the Potomac in moving up to and
408 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
reconnoitring Lee's position. That night orders were issued
by General Meade for a general assault the next morning.
In this, the Sixth corps was to attack from the right, and at
one o'clock in the morning the corps moved two miles to the
right and front, under cover of the darkness, to a position
on the left of Swell's line. The night was stormy and
bitter cold ; the men were not allowed to light fires, and
could keep their limbs from stiffening only by leaping and
constant motion. Howe's division was in the front line,
with the Second Yermont thrown out as skirmishers, and
was to lead in the assault. Those who passed the hos-
pital tents, and saw the operating tables set, water-pails
filled, and amputating knives ready for the surgeon's grasp,
understood that bloody business was in hand. All, officers
and men, knew that the dawn would bring desperate work.
General Howe thus described the feeling of his troops :
"We placed the men where we could look right into the
" enemy's camp, which was but a little distance from us. There
"seemed to be entire confidence throughout my division, that
"it was an easy as well as a sure thing to carry the enemy's
"left. General Neill said : ' I believe I can carry that with
"my brigade.' Another brigade commander in my division
* expressed this opinion : ' I believe there is one regiment
"in the Vermont brigade that can take the key of that posi-
tion— which was an opening that commanded the position.'
" They were under some excitement, and were pretty sanguine.
* The men were fired up and all seemed eager for the order to
" attack." ' Daylight came and hours wore away ; but the
order to attack did not come. At last, at eight o'clock,
the artillery opened, the men fell into line and should-
ered muskets with beating hearts, waiting the word
forward ! ' when suddenly an aid dashed up to General
1 Testimony of General Howe before the Committee on the Conduct of
the War. Vol. I, 1865, p. 435.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 409
Howe with an order countermanding the attack. The
morning light had disclosed to General Warren, who
was to open the assault on the extreme left, a very dif-
ferent condition of things from that of the evening before.
Lee had so strengthened his lines during the night, that
the attempt to storm them had become a forlorn hope.
Warren saw that his men understood it, as, stern and silent,
they pinned on their breasts slips of paper on which each had
written his name, that his grave might not be marked
"unknown," — and he assumed the responsibility of postpon-
ing the attempt. His judgment that it would be fruitless was
confirmed by General Meade after a personal view of the
ground ; and as the carrying of Lee's right was essential to
the general plan, the attack was everywhere suspended. It
remained suspended. Nothing could be gained by fresh ma-
neuvring. The weather had become so severe that some of
the pickets perished on their posts with cold. The six
days' rations brought by the men, were about exhausted.
General Meade abandoned the effort, and during the night of
December 1st withdrew his army to the north side of the
Eapidan. The Sixth corps retired by Germanna Ford, leav-
ing the Third Vermont, Seventy-seventh New York and a
battery to guard the ford, while the rest of the army con-
tinued its march to its former camps. The brigades of Howe's
division halted in the woods, for the night of the 2d, eight or
ten miles from the Ford, where a wagon train met them with
bread and fresh meat, which was right grateful to men who
had been marching for twenty-four hours on coffee. Resum-
ing their march next morning, they marched past Brandy
Station and filed into their old camps. The eight days since
they left them had been among the roughest in their experi-
ence, and there was little mourning over the end of active
campaigning for the winter.
The winter of 1863-4 at Brandy Station, was perhaps
the most cheerful one passed by the First Yermont brigade.
410 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The weather was generally fine. The health of the troops
was good, the sick lists averaging only about seventy to a
regiment. The men were in huts of poles or slabs, plastered
with Virginia clay and roofed with canvass. The officers
had made their quarters not only comfortable but often
almost luxurious. Many wives of officers graced the camps
with their presence. The picket duty was light and drills not
severe. Lyceums and debating societies were organized in
several of the regiments. Religious services were well attend-
ed, and a good deal of religious interest prevailed among the
troops. In December, the question of whether to re-enlist
or not to re-enlist was presented by the government's offer
of bounties and furloughs to re-enlisting veterans, and formed
a steady subject of discussion among the men. The result
was that one thousand and thirty men of the brigade, who
had served two years or more, re-enlisted for three years
more or for the war. No further movement of the Sixth
corps took place during the winter, with a single exception.
On the 27th of February, the corps was sent to Madison
Court House, twenty-three miles to the southwest, to support
Ouster's cavalry division , which made a demonstration further
south to Charlottesville. The object of the movement was to
draw troops away from Richmond, while General Kilpatrick
made his celebrated raid against the Confederate capital,,
which would have made him forever famous, if his heart had
not failed him after he was fairly within the defences of the
city.1 The Vermont brigade accompanied the corps on
this expedition, which occupied five days, and was wholly
uneventful. The march out was made in two days. A winter
storm of rain and snow made the mud deep, but the return
march was made between sunrise and sunset.
A visit to the camps from Governor Smith, and a brigade
1 ' ' The only force opposed to General Kilpatrick was 500 men with six
field guns, and had he made & determined charge he would have taken
Richmond."— General A. A. Humphreys.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 411
review before Mr. Edmunds, Hon. F. E. Woodbridge, and
one or two other prominent Vermonters, in a drenching rain,
were among the incidents of this period. As the winter wore
on, deserters from Lee's army came in, in increasing numbers,
with uniform accounts of scanty rations and general destitu-
tion in the Confederate camps. As the spring opened the
work of reorganization and preparation, in the Army of the
Potomac, for one of the mightiest campaigns in human his-
tory, became active. The antagonist armies which had
wrestled for nearly three years, were soon to grapple again
in the bloodiest struggle of the war. Few of the Vermonters
of the First brigade, however, foreboded that it was to
bring death or wounds to three out of every five of their
number.
CHAPTEB XVI.
THE FIRST BRIGADE— CONTINUED.
General U. S. Grant, Commander-in-Chief — Consolidation of the Corps —
Getty takes command of the Division — Changes in the Brigade —
Review of the Situation — Campaign of the Wilderness — The Service
of Getty's Division— The part of the Vermont Brigade — Terrific Fight-
ing— A thousand Vermonters Killed and Wounded the First Day;
Two hundred the Second Day — Heavy Losses of Officers— March to
Spottsylvania— The Vermonters saluted by the Sixth Corps — Death of
General Sedgwick— General Wright succeeds Him — The Fighting in
the Lines of Spottsylvania— Upton's Charge on the Salient — The
Struggle at the Bloody Angle— Losses of the Vermont Regiments — The
Eleventh Regiment joins the Brigade — Picket Duty Between the Lines
— Movement to the North Anna — March to Cold Harbor.
General Halleck's meddlesome rule as commander-in-
chief at last came to an end, and on the 10th of March the
army was stirred by the arrival at Brandy Station of the new
commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States,
Lieut. General Ulysses S. Grant. The troops soon learned
that he was to take the field in person with the Army of the
Potomac, and they were not slow to conclude that the change
"meant business."
On the 23d of March the Army of the Potomac was
reorganized, by consolidating the five army corps into three
— a measure previously recommended by General Meade.
The new corps were the Second, General Hancock; Fifth,
General Warren, and Sixth, General Sedgwick. The Sixth
was the old Sixth corps with the addition of Eickett's
division of the Third corps. The division commanders of the
corps were General H. G. Wright, General George W. Getty
and General J. B. Eicketts.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 413
General Getty, who succeeded General Howe as the
commander of the second division,1 was one of the best
officers in the army. A native of the District of Columbia,
a graduate of West Point in 1840, brevetted captain of artil-
lery for gallant conduct at Contreras and Cherubusco in the
Mexican war, appointed brigadier general of volunteers in
1862, promoted Lieut. Colonel in the regular army for gallant
and meritorious service during the siege of Suffolk, Ya., in
April, 1863, where he commanded a division of the Ninth
corps ; the husband of a Southern lady, but a true patriot ; a
thorough soldier, modest, faithful to duty, sharing danger
with his men ; as cool as he was brave in action, equal to any
position in which he was placed, he soon won the absolute
respect and confidence of all under him, and his men came
to believe, with reason, that they had about the best division
commander in the army. The brigades of Getty's division,
were the First, General Frank Wheaton ; Second, General
L. A. Grant ; Third, General T. O. Neill, and Fourth, General
H. L. Eustis.2 These were all uncommonly good brigades,
and the division, as the event proved, had no superior, as a
fighting division, in the Army of the Potomac.
March was a remarkably stormy month. Kain, hail, and
snow storms followed each other in close succession, and
swollen streams and bottomless mud forbade active opera-
tions by either of the armies along the Eapidan. On the
22d of March, six inches of snow lay on the ground at Brandy
Station ; and the Second and Sixth Vermont regiments had
a pitched battle of snow balls. Up to the 7th of April the
1 General Howe was relieved from the command of the division, March
3d, 1864, to become chief of artillery for the defences of Washington.
2 Wheaton' s brigade consisted of the Sixty-second New York, and
the Ninety-third, Ninety-eighth, One Hundred and Second and One
Hundred and Thirty-ninth Pennsylvania regiments ; Neill's of the Seventh
Maine, Forty-third, Forty-ninth, and Seventy-seventh New York and Sixty-
first Pennsylvania ; and Eustis's of the Seventh, Tenth and Thirty-seventh
Massachusetts and Second Rhode Island.
414 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
crests of the Blue Eidge were white with snow. Target
practice and drills filled all the clear days, and court martials
for the trial of offenders were steadily in progress when
storms and mud prevented other occupation of the officers.
As April advanced, however, the weather improved; the
roads grew hard; and successive orders sending home the
women in camp, ordering the sutlers to leave, and cutting
down camp equipage, showed that serious business was
ahead.
In the Vermont brigade since the year opened, Colonel
Walbridge of the Second and Colonel Stoughton of the
Fourth regiments had resigned, in consequence of disability
and wounds, and the regiments of the brigade, on the 1st of
May, were commanded, the Second by Colonel Newton
Stone, the Third by Colonel T. O. Seaver, Fourth by Colonel
George P. Foster, Fifth by Lieut. Colonel John E. Lewis, and
Sixth by Colonel E. L. Barney. The brigade commander,
General L. A. Grant, had just been commissioned as brigadier
general of volunteers. The morning reports of May 1st,
showed 3,308 officers and men present for duty. Of this
number there were actually in the ranks about 2,850, divided
as follows: Second regiment, 700; Third, 570; Fourth, 680;
Fifth, 510; Sixth, 450. The men were in fine condition,
strong in heart and in body.
The national exigency at this time was indeed great. The
purpose of the North had not been weakened by three years
of war ; but a greatly depreciated currency, the necessity of
resorting to drafts to fill the army, and other ominous signs,
impressed on all in civil or military authority the tremendous
need of Union victories in the field. On the other side the
Southern conscription was filling the Confederate armies
more rapidly than the Northern drafts were the armies of the
Union. The rebel cruisers had driven American commerce
from the seas; while the blockade runners kept the Con-
federacy supplied with munitions. The Southern historian
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 415
Pollard, asserts that "it was at no great physical disad-
vantage that the South, with all her strength brought to the
surface by conscription and impressment, with all her
resources employed in the war, re-entered the contest in the
year 1864." " The resources of the South," he adds, "both in
men and substance, to prosecute the war, were ample."
Doubtless these resources had hitherto been used with
greater unity and efficiency than those of the North. It was
felt on both sides that the crisis of the war was at hand.
The South advanced to meet it with more hope, and the
North with more anxiety, than had prevailed in either section
since McClellan retreated from Richmond in 1862.
The two armies were never in such a condition of effi-
ciency for their bloody work. The Army of the Potomac
numbered, in round numbers, 100,000 men of all arms ; that
of Northern Virginia, 75,000. 1 The preponderance of num-
bers on the Federal side was largely counterbalanced by the
advantages of position, of better knowledge of the ground,
and of fighting on the defensive, on the other side.
Lee's army, like the Army of the Potomac, consisted on
the 1st of May of three infantry corps, under Longstreet,
Ewell and A. P. Hill. No official report of its actual strength
on the 1st of May is known to exist. General Humphreys
shows that its strength could not have been less than 62,000
men with 224 guns. General W. H. Taylor, of Lee's staff,
A. A. G. of the Army of Northern Virginia, gives it a total of
64,000. General Badeau's detailed estimate, gives it an ag-
gregate of 75,391 present for duty.
It was perfectly understood, on each side, that the Army
1 The morning report of the Army of the Potomac for April 30th,
showed present for duty, 99,438 men. The three infantry corps aggregated
73,394 ; Sheridan's cavalry corps, 12,424 ; the artillery, engineers, etc., made
up the rest. The Ninth corps, General Burnside, 17,000 strong, joined the
army in the Wilderness. It is to be remembered that the number of men
actually in the ranks, is always considerably smaller than the number
reported present for duty."
416 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of the Potomac would take the initiative. On the 2d of May
Grant's order for the movement of the army was issued, and
on that day Lee met his corps and division commanders, at
the signal station on Clark's Mountain, ten miles south of
Grant's headquarters, and told them that the Army of the
Potomac was about to move, and in his opinion would cross
the Rapidan by the fords below leading into the Wilderness.
Grant's problem in the movement now on foot, was to
bridge and cross an unfordable river ; to turn the right of his
opponent, and to take through a rugged region, covered with
dwarf pines and scrub oak, and an undergrowth of bristling
shrubs and tangling vines, threaded by narrow roads with
which his antagonist was much better acquainted than him-
self, an army covering eighty miles of highway with its
100,000 men and 20,000 horses and 320 guns and 4,000 army
wagons. One day he knew would be his, while his movement
was unfolding itself. More than that he could not be sure
of, for he had an opponent who would be likely to allow
him no advantage that could be prevented by prompt action.
Lee's problem was a much more simple one. His plan
naturally would be, and was, to strike the Army of the Poto-
mac on the march, cut it in two, hold its halves divided and
entangled in the Wilderness, and to drive what he did not
destroy and capture back across the Rapidan, as he had
driven Hooker a year before. The highways of the region
dictated the course of the movements. Grant must move
through the Wilderness by roads whose general direction
was from north to south. Lee must strike him by roads
crossing these from west to east.
The movement of the Army of the Potomac began at
midnight of Tuesday, the 3d of May. That day the cavalry
moved to Germanna and Ely's Fords, put guards in all the
occupied houses on the way, to prevent the inhabitants from
carrying information to the enemy, and guarded the fords,,
while the engineers laid five bridges across the stream.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 417
The infantry moved for the most part in two parallel columns.
The Second corps crossed at Ely's Ford, moved to Chancel-
lorsville, and halted at noon of the 4th on Hooker's old
battle-ground. The Fifth corps started at the same time,
crossed at Gerrnanna Ford, and moved to the Wilderness
tavern, six miles from the river, where it halted in the after-
noon. The Sixth corps started at four o'clock for Germanna
Ford, following the Fifth corps. The men carried fifty rounds
of cartridges, and six days' rations, three in their haversacks
and three in their knapsacks. Before they reached the river,
Lieut. General Grant, with his staff, rode along the column,
on his way to the ford, and was greeted with cheers by the
men. They could not forget that two attempts to force a
passage to Kichmond by the overland route, had failed; but
they were willing to try again, under Grant.
The Sixth corps crossed the river in the middle of the
afternoon, and halted and bivouacked, as ordered, about three
miles beyond the ford. Nightfall found the mass of the
troops across the Eapidan — though the trains were crossing
all night.
The first step of the campaign, and a very important and
critical one, had thus been accomplished. While it was in
progress, General Lee, who learned of the movement during
the morning, was promptly moving his army toward the Army
of the Potomac. Two of his columns moved by nearly parallel
roads — the old Orange and Fredericksburg turnpike, con-
structed many years before, and the Orange plank road, built
by another corporation in the days of the plank road mania,
between the same places. These roads crossed Grant's line of
march at right angles, about three miles apart, in the middle
of the Wilderness. Swell's corps moved by the turnpike,
and Hill's by the plank road. Longstreet's corps, which
had been lying at Gordonsville, seven miles south of Lee's
headquarters at Orange Court House, had farther to march,
and would reach the field by a lower road, coming in from
418 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the southwest. Advanced troops of the two armies bivou-
acked that night about five miles apart.
In the next two days, Wednesday and Thursday, the 5th
and 6th of May — sad anniversaries in many a Vermont house-
hold— the terrible battle of the Wilderness was fought.
Of all the battles of the war, perhaps none is more diffi-
cult to describe in detail. The scrubby and tangled forest
which shrouded, and still shrouds the field, seemed at the time
to envelop the battle in mystery. Few of the officers and
men engaged retained very definite conceptions of either
time or space. They moved when the lines surged forward
or back. They made the best fight they could against the seen
and unseen foes in front and on right and left. But when
or where or why they moved, or what was the result of their
fighting, few understood. The battle was characterized by
unseen movements of troops; terrific volleys of musketry,
bursting at close range from the thickets ; charges through
woods so dense that field officers could hardly see the line of
a company ; sudden appearances and disappearances of bodies
of troops, through jungles veiled in smoke ; opposing brigades
and regiments hugging the ground, not daring to rise for
advance or retreat, yet keeping up incessant fusillades ; lines
rapidly thinning and ever closing up, while many dead
dropped unseen in the underbrush, and many wounded men
crept off alone into the hollows. The ground forbade almost
all use of artillery ; and preponderance of numbers had no
moral effect, and was indeed of little actual avail.1 Through
the mist and smoke of this battle, however, some brilliant
lights appear. And among the brightest of these is the
shining service of Getty's division, and of the Vermont brig-
ade of that division. Had they failed, or fled, it is hard to
see how the result could have been less than terrible disaster
to the army. Let us see if this service can be made clear.
" So far as I know, no great battle ever took place before on such
ground."— General A. A. Humphreys.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 419
In the early morning of the 5th, the Union columns were
again moving to the south. The Fifth corps, Warren's,
followed by the Sixth, Sedgwick's, formed the
heavier column, and marched on the right, and so
nearest the enemy, by the main road leading southeast from
Germanna Ford, through the Wilderness. On the left the
Second corps, Hancock's, marched from Chancellorsville, by
a road intersecting the road from Germanna Ford at Todd's
Tavern on the farther edge of the Wilderness. Having the
shorter route of the two, Hancock reached Todd's Tavern
without opposition. Here he was halted between eight and
nine o'clock in the morning by an order from General Meade,
through whom Grant's orders were issued, they having
become satisfied that Lee was preparing to fight in the
Wilderness.1 Shortly before this time Warren had passed
the intersection of the Orange turnpike with his line of
march, had sent a division a short distance up the pike to
guard his flank, and had discovered that the enemy's infantry
were in force on the pike, two miles from the Wilderness
Tavern. This infantry was the head of Swell's corps, which
had advanced to that point and was waiting there till Hill
should be well advanced on the Orange plank road, when
both were to attack along the lines of those roads. Hill
was nearly as far along on the plank road, and the skirm-
ishers of his advance were even then engaged with a cavalry
force under Colonel John Hammond, beyond Parker's store,
three miles from the Wilderness Tavern. The discovery of
Confederate columns on these two roads revealed the main
features of Lee's movement and plan of attack ; and the
two points at which these roads struck the line of march
1 Early in the morning of the 5th, Generals Meade and Grant, with
their staffs, after riding five miles from Germanna Ford, halted near an old
mill in the Wilderness. Aides came with despatches. "They say that Lee
intends to fight us here," said General Meade, as he read them. "Very
well," was the quiet reply of Grant. — C. C. Coffin.
420 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
of Grant's main column, became at once points of the
utmost strategic consequence. That line of march was over
the Germanna Plank Road, as far as the Wilderness Tavern
and a mile beyond it. From there on, for four miles, it
was over the Brock Road.1 This is a curved road, begin-
ning on the Orange Turnpike, crossing the Germanna
Road, a mile and a half southeast of the Wilderness
Tavern; next crossing the Orange Plank Road at right
angles ; and running thence southeast to Todd's Tavern,
on the road to Spottsylvania. The two most important
points to be held, therefore, for the Union army, were these
junctions, of the turnpike with the Germanna Road, and of
the Orange Plank Road with the Brock Road. Of the two
the latter was the more important, because upon it Lee was
likely to throw, and did throw, his heaviest columns, and
because the possession of it by Lee, would be to place two-
thirds of the army of Northern Virginia between the two
wings of the Army of the Potomac; to cut off the Second
corps ; to hold the Fifth and Sixth corps entangled in the
Wilderness ; and perhaps to wreck Grant's campaign at its
very outset. The importance of this point is of course
generally recognized by historians of this battle. Swinton
says of it: "Four miles east of Parker's store the plank
" road is intersected by the Brock Road, which runs south-
" ward to Spottsylvania Court House, and on which Hancock
"was moving up to join the main body of the army. It is
" obvious, therefore, that this junction of roads was a strategic
"point of the first importance, and if Hill should be able to
tf seize it, he would interpose effectually between the two
" Union columns." General Badeau, whose relations to Lieut.
General Grant were such that his description of the campaign
may be considered to be almost equivalent to a description
by General Grant, says: "The Brock road is the key of all
1 Or Brock's Road.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 421
''this region. * * * Cutting these transverse roads at
"right angles, it enabled whichever army held it to outflank
"the other, and was of course of immense importance to both
"commanders." General Humphreys, in his elaborate des-
cription of this battle, does not in terms designate any one
point as of more importance than another ; but his narrative
fully shows the supreme importance of this point.
The selection of the force which was to hold this point
could not have been a matter of chance, which so often, in
great battles, determines the presence of one rather than
another body of troops, at critical points. As soon as Lee's
purpose became evident, General Meade, by Lieut. General
Grant's direction, ordered that General Getty, with his divi-
sion of the Sixth corps, or the larger part of it, be sent to the
junction of the Brock and Plank roads, with instructions to
"hold that point at all hazards, until relieved." At the same
time he sent an order to General Hancock at Todd's Tavern,
to move his corps up the Brock road, and to connect with
the force holding the junction of that road with the plank
road, and be prepared to support an attack out on the latter
road.
As the Sixth corps was behind the Fifth corps in the
order of march, and the latter was thus the nearest to the
junction of the Orange plank and Brock roads, the natural
movement would have been to send a division of the Fifth
corps to that point, and to supply its place on the turnpike
by bringing forward a portion of the Sixth corps. But that
was not what was done. And while no implication is here
intended that there were not in the Fifth corps troops
worthy to be entrusted with almost any duty, it cannot be
doubted that the detaching of Getty and his division for
this special service was due to the fact that it would not do
to make any mistake in the selection of the officer and troops
sent to this key-point. Grant and Meade knew that it would
be hours before Hancock ccruld get his corps into position to
422 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
protect that point ; and that "Warren was likely to have heavy
fighting to do on the turnpike and would need all his men.
They selected a division that could be relied on to reach the
plank road promptly, and to hold it till the gaps between the
wings of the army could be closed. So Getty's division was
detached for the purpose ; and there is some reason to sup-
pose that the selection made was to some extent due to the
fact that the Vermont brigade was part of that division.1
Getty took with him his first, second and fourth brigades,
leaving the third with the Sixth corps. How he and they
discharged the trust reposed on them will be seen.
The battle opened in earnest about noon, on Warren's
front. He drove Swell's advance back for a mile, but was
in turn driven back, and, though supported by a portion of
the Sixth corps, had all and sometimes more than he could
do to hold his own — the dense second-growth of timber
greatly impeding his movements, and preventing effective
massing of his men. He lost during the day some ground,
two guns and over three thousand men, killed, wounded and
captured ; but at nightfall still held his main position across
the turnpike and in front of the Wilderness Tavern.
Getty reached the junction of the Brock and Orange
plank road's shortly before noon, and none too soon ; for the
advance of Heth's division (of Hill's corps) was pushing for
the same point, and driving in Colonel Hammond, who with
the Fifth New York cavalry, was falling back before the
enemy's infantry, not over half a mile away from the Brock
road. Getty at once sent forward a line of skirmishers, who
relieved the cavalry, and drove back the enemy's skirmishers
for some distance. The Yermont brigade was then advanced,
passing the First brigade, (Wheaton's, which had led the
1 Surgeon S. J. Allen, of the Fourth Vermont, who was medical direc-
tor on General Getty's staff, and with him when he received this order,
says that it was accompanied by a special direction that he should take
the Vermont brigade, with two other brigades of his division.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 423
column to this point,) and was posted in front of the cross-
roads, on the left of the Orange plank road, in two lines. The
Fourth and Third regiments were in front with two companies
of the Fifth thrown out as skirmishers, under Captain Orms-
bee, and the Second, Sixth and Fifth were the second line.1
Wheaton's brigade was formed in like manner on the right of
the plank road, with a section of artillery in the road, between
the two brigades ; 3 and the line was extended into the woods
to the right, by Eustis's brigade. The Vermont regiments, by
order of their commander, piled a partial cover of rails and
logs, which proved of good service later in the day. General
Getty held this position for some three hours, against a pres-
sure of the enemy which hour by hour grew more threatening.
About three o'clock the first indications that he was to be
supported appeared in the sound and sight of the head of
Hancock's column, coming up the Brock road. General Grant,
whose headquarters were on a knoll by the Wilderness Tavern,
had become impatient to strike Hill before he should become
more strongly concentrated on the plank road, and had sent
an order to Hancock to unite with Getty, and drive the enemy
back to or beyond Parker's store. This order General Han-
cock found it impossible to obey promptly. His artillery,
filling the Brock road, which was narrow and densely wooded
on each side, greatly retarded the advance of his infantry;
and the formation of the troops as they came up, was imped-
ed by the woods and underbrush. He rode forward in person,
to confer with Getty, learned from him that he (Getty) had
two Confederate divisions in his front, and was expecting
momentarily an attack in force, assured him of support at
the earliest possible moment, and directed General Birney,
commanding the advance of the Second corps, to form his
division, as fast as it arrived, on Getty's left. Before Birney,
1 The regiments were placed in the order named from right to left.
2 Part of Rickett's battery, F., First Pennsylvania Light Artillery.
424 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
however, got into position, Getty received an order from
General Meade to attack without waiting longer for Hancock ;
and he at once moved forward to the assault. The force in
front of him was Heth's division, with Wilcox's division on
Heth's left. Generals Lee and A. P. Hill were both with
Heth's division, and Lee, it is fair to presume, gave his per-
sonal attention to the movements of Hill's corps. The latter's
front line ran along a ridge, so screened by the trees and
undergrowth that neither the nature of the ground nor the
position of his line could be determined twenty yards away.
The first of Getty2s troops to become engaged were the Ver-
monters. They had moved forward scarce three hundred
yards, when they were received by a tremendous volley,
bursting from the thickets but a few yards in front. They
halted, returned the fire, and then dropped down, to get
cover from the hail-storm of bullets. The enemy did the
same. Again the lines were ordered to advance ; but when
the men rose, so many were at once shot down that it became
plain that to advance was simply destruction. The men
dropped again. They could not advance, but there was no
thought of retreat. The second line closed up on the first,
the Second regiment creeping forward through the bushes to
a position nearly on a line with the Fourth, and both regi-
ments kept up a destructive fire, under which the enemy was
as powerless to advance as they. The Third regiment, bear-
ing to the left, pushed forward beyond its line of skir-
mishers, and became engaged in much the same manner.
The Sixth regiment moved up to the support of the Third
and the Fifth took position still farther to the left. The
other brigades of the division became also sharply engaged ;
but their lines were not as close to the enemy as those of the
"Vermont brigade, and the fighting along them was far less
bloody. In the Yermont regiments the carnage was fearful.
The loss of field and line officers who were on their feet
and moving along the lines, while the men hugged the ground,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 425
was especially severe. Colonel Stone, the gallant young
colonel of the Second, fell with a ball through his thigh ;
retired to have his wound dressed, and returned to his post,
soon to drop dead, shot through the head. Lieut. Colonel
Tyler too!;: his place, till, an hour later, he too fell, with a
mortal wound, leaving the regiment without any field officer.
Colonel Foster of the Fourth received a ball in the thigh and
had to yield the command to Major Pratt. Lieut. Colonel
Lewis, commanding the Fifth, fell with a shattered arm, and
Major Dudley stepped into his place. Colonel Barney, of the
Sixth, received a mortal wound in the temple, and was suc-
ceeded in the command of his regiment by Lieut. Colonel
Hale. Of the company officers, one after another fell not to
rise again, or were borne bleeding to the rear. The men's
faces grew powder-grimed, and their mouths black from biting
cartridges. The musketry silenced all other sounds ; and the
air in the woods was hot and heavy with sulphurous vapor.
The tops of the bushes were cut away by the leaden showers
which swept through them; and when the smoke lifted occa-
sional glimpses could be got of gray forms crouching under
the battle-cloud which hung low upon the slope in front. For
two hours this went on, and the ammunition of the men was
nearly exhausted, when General Birney, having got into posi-
tion, sent a brigade (Owen's) to the support of the Vermont
regiments. By this time, also, the other divisions of Han-
cock's corps arrived within supporting distance, and were
posted along the Brock road. As the position was thus made
strong, it was no longer necessary that Getty's front line
should hold its advanced position. General L. A. Grant was
directed to withdraw his brigade ; but how to withdraw it, in
the face of the increasing force with which it was in such
close contact, was a problem. Discovering a place in front
of the Fifth Yermont, where the enemy's line seemed to be a
little thinner than elsewhere, Grant proposed to Major
Dudley to attempt to break through the enemy's line at that
426 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
point, with the support of two of Birney's regiments just
posted in his rear, hoping thus to secure relief from the
pressure on the rest of his line. Dudley was willing to try,
and at the word of command the Fifth rose, and charged the
ridge with a cheer. The enemy's line in front partially gave
way; but the supporting troops got enough of it after a
short advance, and halted and lay down ; and Dudley, find-
ing his regiment alone, and suffering from a severe fire opened
on its left flank, relinquished the endeavor, and ordered his
regiment down. This attempt at a diversion having failed,
and the ammunition of the regiments being exhausted, the
only available course was to beat a square retreat to the lines
behind them. This was successfully accomplished. The
enemy pressed close on the retiring line of the Second and
Fourth regiments, and occupied for a short time the ground,
strewn with their dead, on which they had fought. Lieut.
French of General Grant's staff, who had been sent by him
to order back the Fifth, had his horse shot and was captured
while on his way with the order. But Dudley, finding him-
self flanked and in danger of capture, had meantime wisely
withdrawn his regiment ; and the brigade, as the shades of
night fell on the field, resumed, with sadly thinned ranks,
its former position on the Brock road. Heth also with-
drew after nightfall to his former position. " The battle con-
tinued," says General Humphreys, "with great severity until
near eight o'clock, when darkness and the dense forest put
an end to it, fortunately for Hill, whose troops were shattered
and his lines disjointed. An hour more of daylight, and he
would have been driven from the field."
General Lee, in a despatch to the Confederate secretary
of war that evening, briefly described as follows the events
of the day: "Swell's and Hill's corps arrived this morning
in close proximity to the enemy's line of march. A strong
attack was made upon Ewell who repulsed it, capturing many
prisoners and four pieces of artillery. The enemy subse-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 427
quently concentrated upon General Hill, who with his and
Wilcox's divisions successfully resisted repeated and desper-
ate assaults." General Lee was on the field in person in front
of Getty, and if he called the fighting there "desperate,"
there can be no doubt that it was so. In fact, the vigor ol
Getty's attack was such that the opposing generals were per-
suaded that it was made by a very much greater force than
one division; and it has been stated by Confederate his-
torians that Heth's and Wilcox's divisions of Hill's corps,
numbering 15,000 men, resisted that day five Federal
divisions of Hancock's and Sedgwick's corps, numbering
45,000! But the facts are that the assault was opened and
sustained for hours by Getty alone, with 7,000 men, being
three-fourths of his division. Other troops of the Second
corps supported Getty at a later stage of the battle ; but the
entire loss of the Second corps on the 5th of May was not
equal to that of the Vermont brigade in killed and wounded
— a fact which indicates distinctly what troops did the fighting-
General Getty well knew that he had two men in front
of him for every one of his own; but he knew the im-
portance of the duty assigned to him. The situation required
desperate effort; for if Hill had succeeded in reaching the
Brock road, it is hard to see how he could have been dis-
lodged. It would then have been an easy matter for him to
hold back Hancock — who as it was did not get into
position till after four o'clock p. M. — with one of his divisions,
while Wilcox pushed in on Warren's left flank with the
other. The consequences can be imagined. Elsewhere,
Hancock's lines gave way for a time, and General Alexander
Hays, of Birney's division, was killed in attempting to restore
a break; but Getty's front was firmly held from first to
last against the utmost efforts of the enemy, till the junc-
tion of the Orange Plank Road with the Brock Road
was made secure. It is no disparagement of the other gal-
lant brigades of Getty's division, which fought well and
428 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
suffered severely, to say that the brunt of the fighting of the
division fell to the lot of the Vermont brigade. It was a
year and a day from the time when their steadiness in the
face of heavy odds saved the Sixth corps at Banks's Ford.
The same qualities had enabled them to render even greater
service this day. But it was accomplished at terrible cost.
Of five colonels of the brigade but one was left unhurt.
Fifty of its best line officers had been killed or wounded.
A thousand Vermont soldiers fell that afternoon.
The fighting along and near the Plank road ended
about eight o'clock; but elsewhere, and especially in front
of the Sixth corps, there was skirmishing on into the night ;
and till two o'clock in the morning occasional volleys lit
up the dark woods with flame. Along the fronts of the
opposing lines strong picket guards faced each other with
exhausting watchfulness. Behind them the burial parties
and stretcher-bearers sought through the thickets for the
killed and wounded, at the risk of their own lives, for the
enemy's pickets fired at every light or sound. In the debata-
ble ground between them lay hundreds of dead and dying,
whom neither army could remove. The men in the lines of
battle lay on their arms behind their low breastworks, and
got but brief and fitful rest. No decisive advantage had
been secured on either side in this day's fight. Each com-
mander decided to renew the contest at daylight the next
morning, and hunied forward reinforcements. All night long
Longstreet was hurrying up from Gordonsville, with his
corps, to the help of Hill; and Burnside with the Ninth corps
was on the way, and marching hard, from the line of the
Orange & Alexandria road, to strengthen the Army of the
Potomac. But as yet there was a wide gap between Han-
cock's right and Warren's left, and a gap perhaps nearly as
wide between Hill and Ewell. Spades were brought into
use, and intrenchments thrown up, on each side. Behind
the front lines of each army staff officers were hurrying
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 429
hither and yon, and troops marching to and fro through the
woods, under the starlight for hours before daylight.
Grant's orders to Hancock, Warren and Sedgwick were
to attack at five o'clock. Lee commenced his attack fifteen
minutes earlier. The fighting soon became heavy all along
the lines. Ewell held his ground stubbornly behind his.
intrenchments ; but Hill soon found himself in serious trouble.
Getty had remained to aid the Second corps in a direct
assault, while Crawford's division of the Fifth corps, which had
got into position the evening before too late to take part in the
fighting, was to strike Hill's exposed left flank. These move-
ments were successfully executed. Birney's division advanced
in two lines, followed by Getty's. In this movement the
Vermont brigade moved straight out along the Plank road,
with two regiments on the right and three on the left of the
road. Hill made a stout resistance ; but could not stem the
combined assault on his front and flank, and after a half
hour's severe fighting his lines broke, and he was driven back
in great confusion through the woods, for more than a mile.
In this advance, the crowding in of Crawford's troops on the
right occasioned a general obliquing of the attacking lines
to the left, bringing the Vermont brigade all on the south
side of the Plank road. The lines moved forward till Lee's
headquarters and the Confederate trains and artillery were
in sight, not far in front. Hill's corps was tremendously
shattered. It looked much like a Union victory in that part
of the field. At this juncture Longstreet arrived with two
fresh divisions, and formed them hastily, placing Kershaw's
division on the south of the Plank road and Field's on the
north. Their lines opened to let through the disorganized
masses of Heth's and Wilcox's divisions, and then closing,
offered a firm front to their opponents ; and Hancock, whose
lines had become much disordered in the ardor of the advance
through forest, swamp and thicket, called a general halt in
order to re-form his lines.
430 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Several hours now passed, during which the commanders
on each side were bringing up troops and adjusting their
formations. On the Confederate side the routed troops of
Heth and Wilcox were rallied and brought again to the front ;
and the arrival of Anderson's division, of Hill's corps, which
had not been as yet engaged, enabled Lee to extend the lines
of that corps till his right wing connected with Ewcll.
On the other side a single division of Burnside's corps
had arrived at the Wilderness Tavern and had been sent to
support Hancock. But there was long and impatient waiting
for the rest of Burnside's command to come and fill the gap
between Hancock and Warren. The ground was so broken,
the woods so dense, the movements of the troops, which were
constantly mistaking friends for foes and halting and losing
direction, were so interrupted and slow, that the further
advance of Hancock, who waited for Burnside to get into
position on his right before again assaulting, was delayed till
Longstreet took the offensive. He had been able to extend
his right, and to form a flanking force of four brigades, which,
concealed by the woods, moved down around Birney's left
and struck him on the flank and rear. " We thought," said
General Longstreet, describing this portion of the battle to
Mr. Swinton after the close of the war, " that we had another
Bull Bun on you ; for I had made my dispositions to seize
the Brock road." But the Brock road was not seized by
General Longstreet that day. Getty's division— reduced at
this time to two brigades by the departure of Eustis's brigade,
which had been sent to the extreme left of Hancock's line —
was still holding the rear line between Longstreet and
the cross roads. What took place there cannot be better
described than in the words of General L. A. Grant's report :
"The tide of battle had turned. The front line was broken,
and men came disorganized to the rear. The brigade, at the
time, happened to occupy a slightly elevated or rolling ground,
where the enemy had, for his own use, thrown together two
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 431
irregular lines of old logs and decayed timber. The Vermont
regiments took position behind these lines of logs and rubbish
and awaited the progress of the battle. In less than half an
hour the four lines in our front were swept away, and heavy
lines of the advancing enemy came upon us with great force.
They were received with a bold front and galling fire, and
their advance was completely checked and thrown back in
confusion. Still determined, the enemy reformed his lines,
and again advanced to the attack and again went back. The
attack was many times repeated, and as many times repulsed.
The repulse, however, was complete only in front of this
brigade. Every time the enemy made an attack, he made a
substantial advance upon both our right and left, and the
Union troops gradually gave way, especially upon the right.
Bullets came from the right across the plank road. Major
Pratt promptly faced the Fourth regiment to the right, and
opened fire across the road. The state of affairs in that
direction becoming critical, it was represented to the division
commander, who placed another brigade under my command.
That brigade was immediately placed on the right of this,
partially facing the plank road, so as to protect our right and
rear, should the enemy gain further advantage in that direc-
tion.
Perhaps the valor of Vermont troops and the steadiness
and unbroken front of these noble regiments, were never
more signally displayed. They stood out in the very midst
of the enemy, unyieldingly dealing death and slaughter in
front and flank. Only the day before, one-third of their
number and many of their beloved leaders had fallen ; but
not disheartened, the brave men living seemed determined to
avenge the fallen; and most effectually they did it. For
more than three hours did the brigade hold this advanced
position, repelling every attack. Foiled in every attempt at
this point, the enemy massed forces about one-fourth of a
432 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
mile to our left, and made a vigorous attack.1 Our lines, at
that point, suddenly gave way and came in confusion past
our rear. I immediately ordered two regiments to face to
the left, but before the order could be executed, the enemy
rushed through the breach and opened fire into our rear,
and at the same time made another attack in front. Perceiv-
ing that it was worse than useless to attempt further resist-
ance there, I ordered the regiments to rally behind the
breastworks on the Brock road, at which point we had been
ordered to rally in case of disaster. Our entire lines, at this
part of the army, went back in disorder. All organizations
and control seemed to have been lost. But out of that
disorder the Vermont brigade quietly and deliberately took
its position in the front works on the Brock road, and awaited
the enemy's advance. Other troops were rallied and placed
on the right and left and rear, though thousands went be-
yond reach or immediate control. The lines of the left of the
Second corps were unbroken, and now took position on the
Brock road. Other troops came up from the right, and our
position was made strong again, and here we awaited the
enemy's attack. It came late in the afternoon ; a vigorous,
determined and desperate attack. The heaviest part fell
upon the troops on our immediate left, but a portion of it fell
upon this brigade, and was handsomely repulsed."
1 General Longstreet had been seriously wounded, by a volley from hia
own men, and Lee took command in person. At one time, Confederate
historians say, he proposed to head a charge ; but the men, anxious for his
safety, refused to go forward till he had gone to the rear ; and he finally
yielded to their protest. The abandonment of the advanced line of breast
works by a portion of the Second corps, was in part owing to the woods'
catching fire. Many wounded men, it has been stated, were burned alive ;
'but it is not known that this fate befell any of the Vermonters. The
fighting went on, however, till at last the flames caught the breastworks of
logs which sheltered portions of Mott's and Birney's divisions; and they
were driven from behind them by the heat and smoke. The Confederates
pushed in to the break thus made ; but were again forced back by Carroll'*
brigade of Gibbon's division of the Second corps.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 433
Vermont troops of other organizations and of all arms,
infantry, cavalry, artillery and sharpshooters, fought in other
parts of the field, and rendered service which will be de-
scribed in subsequent pages.1
We have seen that it twice fell to the First Yermont
brigade to take a most important part at a most important
point. It held its position there to the end. The other
brigades of Getty's division returned during the night of the
5th to the Sixth corps ; but General Hancock was unwilling
to spare the Vermont brigade ; and it remained upon or near
the Brock road during the next day and till the army resumed
its movement toward Richmond, during the night of the 7th-
General Getty was seriously wounded on Friday ; but
declined to leave the field. The value of the service rendered
by his division, in this battle, can scarcely be exaggerated. It
has been overlooked in some accounts of the battle, owing to
the fact that the division was detached from the Sixth and
fought with the Second corps, to which corps its work has
been credited. But that the service which it rendered was
appreciated at the headquarters of the army, may be inferred
from General Badeau's remark that "Getty with a single
division first reached the critical point and held it afterwards
in the presence of double his own force, although Lee in per-
son was in front." a
Dear as was the cost of their part of this service to the
Vermont troops, there is good reason to believe that they
inflicted much greater loss on the enemy than they receiv-
ed. The losses of the Confederate divisions opposed to
1 The Tenth Vermont was in the Third division of the Sixth corps ;
the Seventeenth Vermont and Third Vermont battery with the Ninth
corps ; the First Vermont cavalry with Sheridan ; and three Vermont com-
panies of sharpshooters with the Second corps. The Seventeenth Ver-
mont lost 80 men in this battle.
3 Military history of U. S. Grant. Vol. II. p. 113.
38
434 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Getty's are to some extent matters of conjecture, in the
absence of official reports of casualties on the rebel side in
this battle — an absence indicative of heavier losses than the
Confederate generals were willing to acknowledge. There
are, however, some significant matters of record bearing on
the subject. Thus the morning report of Lee's army for the
20th of April — the latest report on file preceding the Wilder-
ness campaign — gives Hill's corps 20,648 enlisted men,
present for duty. On the 8th of May, General Early took
command of the corps, General Hill being sick, and he says>
in his memoir, that the corps that morning "numbered about
13,000 muskets for duty." That is to say the corps had lost
about eight thousand enlisted men — saying nothing of officers
— in the two weeks during which this battle was fought
and in which it had done no other fighting. As the losses
in Field's division of Longstreet's corps, are described as
"very heavy," Lee must have lost nearly ten thousand
men in front of Hancock and Getty; and both General
Longstreet and General Wilcox have been quoted as ac-
knowledging that the repulse of Wilcox's and Heth's divisions
was chiefly the work of Getty's division. The tables of
casualties on the Union side furnish significant indications as
to what troops stood the strain and did the fighting of that
division. The killed and wounded of the Vermont brigade
numbered 1,200. The killed and wounded of the Army of
the Potomac numbered 12,485.' That is to say, the Ver-
mont brigade, being one of thirty-two infantry brigades
engaged, suffered one-tenth of the entire loss of Grant's army
in killed and wounded in the Wilderness ! The following
1 The entire Union loss, as stated by General Humphreys, was killed,
2,265; wounded, 10,220; missing, 2,902; total, 15,387. The losses of the
Army of Northern Virginia, as stated in the "Medical and Surgical His-
tory of the War," were 2,000 killed, 6,000 wounded, and 3,400 missing ;
total, 11,400.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 435
table shows a remarkably even distribution of casualties
among the regiments :
CASUALTIES IN THE WILDERNESS.
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Died of wounds. Total.
Brigade Staff, 11 2
Second Vermont, 48 220 29 32 297
Third " 40 184 15 25 239
Fourth " 34 194 22 45 250
Fifth " 34 179 17 23 230
Sixth, " 35 169 12 26 216
191 947 96 151 1234
Of the missing, five were never accounted for; two
deserted. Most of the rest were wounded men, who fell into
the hands of the enemy, only a few unwounded Yermonters
being captured.1 The loss of officers was especially severe,
amounting in killed and wounded to three-fourths of all
present for duty — a fearful percentage. The brigade had no
less than twenty-one officers killed and mortally wounded,3
being more than the number of officers killed in all the rest
of the Sixth corps put together. Among them were some of
the best soldiers in the brigade, and Surgeon Stevens of the
Seventy-seventh New York thus expresses the deep feeling
aroused in Getty's division by the deaths of so many valued
officers : " The Yermont brigade lost many of its brightest
" ornaments. Colonel Barney of the Sixth was one of Yer-
" mont's best men, a kind yet faithful commander in camp,
1 Several Vermont soldiers were injured during the first day by the fire
from the section of Ricketts's battery behind them, the lines being so near
together that shells intended for the enemy exploded over the lines of the
Vermont regiments. Among these was Sergeant H. E. Taylor, Company
F., Fourth Vermont, who was struck in the small of the back by a piece of
a shell, which passed through to the other side of the spine, where it re-
mained for four months, before it was extracted. Since the death of Presi-
dent Garfield from an almost precisely similar wound, the case of Sergeant
Taylor, who is still living, has been cited as a very rare one of recovery
from such an injury.
2 Including all who died of their wounds.
436 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
"gallant and fearless on the field, the highest type of a man
" — a Christian gentleman. Colonel Stone was killed in-
" stantly on the 5th ; his urbane manners were remembered
"by all who frequented our division headquarters, and his
"bravery had endeared him to his men. Colonel Tyler, too,
"of the Second, was among the mortally wounded, and all
"felt his loss deeply. Captains Bixby of the Second, Bart-
"lett and Buck of the Third, Carpenter, Fair and Lillie of
"the Fourth, Ormsbee and Hurlbut of the Fifth, and Bird
"and Randall of the Sixth, all men of bravery and patriot-
" ism, all beloved as companions and valued as officers, were
"among the dead or dying. But among Vermont's fallen
"sons was no more ardent patriot or gallant soldier than
"Captain George D. Davenport of the Fifth. His manly
"bearing, brilliant intellect, ready wit, his social virtues and
"well-known bravery, combined to render him a favorite
" officer. These are a few among the many names of fallen
"heroes. Never were grander men sacrificed for a nobler
"cause." * General L. A. Grant said of the same : "It is no
disparagement to those who survive, to say that the places of
these captains cannot be filled." Nineteen line officers were
killed, thirty-one wounded, and two taken prisoners. Hardly
a company in the line escaped without the loss of one or
more commissioned officers, and many companies were left
under the command of sergeants by the loss of all their
officers. At the close of the battle the Fourth regiment had
but three line officers present for duty, and the Fifth but
five — several in each regiment being on the sick list.
It is needless to say that the night of May 6th fell on
many heavy hearts in the Vermont regiments. Their lines
had closed up over the vacant places of nearly half of their
number ; but they allowed themselves to give way to no sink-
ing of heart ; for they still held an important position, and
1 Three Years in the Sixth corps, p. 320.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 437
meant to hold it, whatever further tribute of endurance and
bloodshed the morrow might exact. But that night Lee
retired within his intrenched lines. This fact was disclosed
by a line of skirmishers sent out by General L. A. Grant}
under Major Crandall of the Sixth Vermont, in the morning.
These moved out over the field, thickly strewn with corpses
clad in gray and blue ; discovered that the enemy's front had
been withdrawn for some distance ; found a large number of
muskets, which the enemy had collected on the field but had
had no opportunity to remove, and guarded them till wagons
were sent out by General Birney and brought them in ; but,
wdtli the exception of a few Confederate pickets who retired
rapidly, they found no hostile force on the ground where
Lee's lines lay the day before. Lieut. General Grant
acknowledged that the fighting of those two days was the
hardest he had ever known ; and as he did not propose to
attack Lee behind his works, the battle of the Wilderness
ended there. It was a drawn battle, in that neither army
occupied the ground fought over. Yet as Lee had been
foiled in the main purpose for which he brought on the
general action, and as his loss was comparatively, though
not actually, greater than Grant's, for him it was to all
intents and purposes a lost battle. And the Army of
Northern Virginia never after fought an offensive battle.
During the afternoon of the 7th, the Vermont brigade
rejoined the Sixth corps on the extreme right; and that
night the Army of the Potomac moved on to the south, by
the flank, through the dark woods, leaving in the field
hospitals several hundred wounded men, for whom places
could not be found in the trains of ambulances and army
wagons, many miles long, filled with groaning sufferers*
which had started during the day for Fredericksburg.1
1 Surgeon Phillips of the Sixth Vermont, and Asst. Surgeon Thompson
of the Seventy-seventh New York, were placed in charge of the wounded
men of Getty's division so left. They remained with them for several weeks,
438 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
SPOTTSYLVANIA.
In the more open country around Spottsylvania Court
House, fifteen miles south of the Wilderness Tavern, Grant
hoped to find room to use his superior numbers to better
purpose, and to secure a position which should give him a
firmer foothold for his army in its overland campaign. He
expected to occupy this without serious opposition. But his
antagonist, partly by accident, one of his divisions having
moved thither in advance of orders, got there and took
position before him, and was not dislodged by twelve days
of constant effort and bloody fighting.
The army of the Potomac started for Spottsylvania in
the evening of the 7th. The Sixth corps marched by the
way of Chancellorsville, the Yermont brigade bringing up
and guarding the rear of the corps. The trains and artillery
filled the roads, and the men were on their feet all night. At
Chancellorsville the brigade was detached from the corps, to
guard the trains, while the rest of the corps pushed forward.
The regiments had halted for dinner, at a spot about four
miles from Spottsylvania, between four and five p. M., when
an order came to General L. A. Grant directing him to hurry
his brigade forward to join the corps, which was to support a
demonstration then in progress. The situation in front was
this : Warren's corps, the Fifth, had been sent to Spottsyl-
vania by a night march over the Brock road and the most
direct route, to seize the position there ; but its progress had
been impeded by Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry and by barricades of
trees felled across the road, and the head of the column was
still two miles from the Court House, when, at nine o'clock
the next morning, a strong force of the enemy's infantry was
till most of their patients had been removed to Richmond, and till they
learned that all of the rest were to be taken thither at once. They then
made their escape, pushed to the north, travelling by night and hiding by
day, and finally reached Washington in safety.
THE FIBST BRIGADE. 439
found blocking the way. By noon Warren had developed
the fact that he was opposed by a division of cavalry and two
divisions of infantry. Reporting this to General Meade, the
latter ordered Sedgwick to hasten forward and join Warren
in an immediate and vigorous attack, which it was confi-
dently expected would secure the position at the Court
House. It was so late in the day, however, before the dis-
positions were made, and the men were so exhausted by the
march and heat, that, though some severe fighting was done
by Warren, no general assault took place. The Vermont
brigade made a forced march to the scene of action and
joined the right of the Sixth corps just before dark. It was
then directed to move to the extreme left of the corps. Its
movement thither was the occasion of a somewhat noticeable
demonstration. The troops of the Sixth corps were standing
to their arms and expecting momentarily to move into action.
They could hardly be expected under the circumstances to
expend much breath in compliments. But the fighting of
the Yermonters on the Orange Plank road had been for two
days the talk of the corps; and now as the brigade, reduced
to half its former size, began to move along the line, the men
nearest to it broke out into spontaneous and hearty hurrahs
for the Green Mountain boys. The greeting was taken up
by regiment after regiment and brigade after brigade in the
line, as the Vermont brigade moved past them, and its march
to the left was made under a continuous round of cheers. Its
officers and men were sober from their losses, exhausted by
four days of fighting, marching and want of sleep, and blown
by double-quicking ; but the welcome of their comrades put
fresh heart into them, and they would have added fresh
laurels to those of the corps, if they had gone into action
that night. As they moved on, however, General Grant was
met by General Meade, who informed him that the intended
attack had been suspended for the night, adding some words
of high compliment to the brigade for its recent work and
440 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
prompt arrival at this time. The brigade was then conducted
by a staff officer, in the dusk of the evening, through a ravine
and up a wooded hill to a position on the enemy's flank.
Here, as darkness fell, Brig. General Grant discovered that
his command was in front of the general line of the army,
and in advance even of any skirmish line. He knew not
where the enemy was, whether near or far. Scattering shots,
as of skirmishers, were heard on his flank and in his rear.
The position was not a pleasant one, and he determined to
seek some other, where he could at least be sure that the
enemy was before instead of behind him. After several
hours of reconnoitring and wandering to and fro in the
darkness, the brigade finally struck a portion of the skirmish
line of the Sixth corps and took a position back of it, which
proved to be about where General Sedgwick had intended to
place the brigade. The men were glad to halt and drop to
sleep upon their arms.
Next morning the Fourth regiment was sent forward to
the skirmish line ; and the rest of the brigade was occupied
during the day in intrenching its lines. Finding Lee fairly
in his front, General Grant was now concentrating his army
before attempting again to force his way. On this Monday
morning, May 9th, Lee's lines enclosed Spottsylvania Court
House in a semicircle, covering all the roads which con-
verged there from the north and east. The country around
is undulating, and was largely covered with forests, with
occasional patches of cleared land. The marshy valleys of
the Ny river and of the branches of the Po, and the ridges
on either hand, afforded excellent natural advantages for
defence, to which Lee added extensive earthworks and
abatis. Grant's lines, as finally formed, swept in an irregular
curve outside of Lee's, from the northwest to the southeast,
the Second corps holding the right, and next, from right to
left, the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth corps. Getty's division of
the Sixth corps, commanded for the time being by Brig.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 441
General Neill, was formed in a clearing on a hillside in
front of the Landron house, a mile and a half north of the
Court House. In front of the clearing was a strip of woods,
and beyond that a rise of open ground, along the crest of
which ran the enemy's earthworks. Two of the Sixth corps
batteries were placed on a crest in the rear of the line.
Breastworks of logs and rails covered with earth protected
the men.
There was little fighting done this day, except by the
skirmishers ; but it was a black day for the Sixth
corps, for on it fell its brave and trusty com-
mander, General John Sedgwick. As he stood in the early
morning, directing the movements of some of the troops which
were occupying the rifle-pits at the most advanced point of
the Union line,1 a ball from the rifle of a Confederate sharp-
shooter, across the little valley in front, took effect under his
left eye and passed out at the back of his head. He fell
without word or sign into the arms of Colonel M. T. Mc-
Mahon, of his staff, and was a dead man before he touched
the ground. His death brought a deep gloom over the
whole army, and in no portion of it was he more sincerely
mourned than in the Vermont brigade. Its officers and men
knew what " Uncle John" thought of them, and they return-
ed his confidence and esteem to the full.2
1 On this spot, on the farm of Mr. Spindler, the State of Connecticut
intends to erect a monument to her brave son.
2 u Sedgwick's compliments many times cost the soldiers from Ver-
mont very dear ; for they were the high compliments of placing them on
many battlefields in the foremost position of danger — of placing on them
the whole reliance of the corps. On many a day he watched them, as the
troops moved out of camp in the morning, or closed the long dusty march
of the day ; — and when, on one occasion in the Wilderness, when the Ver-
mont brigade, returning, after heavy losses, from their march to the assist-
ance of the Second corps, saw the general ride along the lines as they were
coming into bivouac, they burst forth in a hearty spontaneous cheer that
touched him to the very heart. And when the cheers subsided one of
them stepped to the front and called out with a comic and yet touching
442 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The command of the Sixth corps would now have
devolved by rank upon General Bicketts, commanding the
Third division ; but, knowing that General Sedgwick had
expressed a desire that General Wright should succeed him
in case of his death, General Kicketts declined the com-
mand, and it was assumed by General Wright. He was a
native of Connecticut, a graduate of West Point, a major of
engineers in the regular army, a brigadier general of volun-
teers, and had shown marked executive ability in the Depart-
ment of the South, before joining the Army of the Potomac
as commander of the First division of the Sixth corps. He
had distinguished himself and won a brevet at Eappahannock
Station. He thus brought high qualifications to the com-
mand of the corps. He could not make good the loss of
Sedgwick — no one could have done that; but the corps
had in him a careful, pains-taking, energetic, and, on the
whole, a successful commander, throughout the remainder of
the war.
May 10th was occupied chiefly in efforts to obtain infor-
mation, by pressing the skirmish lines against those of the
enemy at various points in the curtain of woods which
screened them. In one of these attempts the Fourth Ver-
mont regiment, under Major Pratt, drove back the enemy's
skirmish line to their intrenchments, and secured some
valuable information which determined the point of an
assault made from the front of the Sixth corps in the latter
emphasis: "Three more for old Uncle John!" The general's bronzed
face flushed like a girl's ; and as his staff laughed at his embarrassment, the
laugh spread along the lines and the whole brigade laughed and cheered as
if just returning from a summer's picnic, and not from a bloody field,
weary, worn and with decimated ranks. He could appreciate th^ir humor,
knowing that no thought of disrespect ever entered it ; and a single smile
from him went like a sunbeam through long columns of tired men, until it
broadened into a laugh and culminated in cheers from the true hearts of as
gallant soldiers as ever served a patriot cause."— Colonel M. T. McMahon,
Adjt. General, Sixth corps.
THE FIRST BEIGADE. 443
part of the day.1 This assault was part, and the only suc-
cessful part, of a combined attack on the enemy's centre,
made by portions of the Fifth and Sixth corps. The point
selected by General Wright, wafc the apex of a salient of the
enemy's lines, which were thrown forward for half a mile to
the north, on his centre, along the brow of a hill near the
farmhouse of Mr. McCool, and then, turning at an angle —
the famous " bloody angle " of Spottsylvania — returned as
far to the southeast. This salient was held by Dole's brigade
(of Swell's corps) of Georgia troops. The position was
guarded by two lines of works. The first of these was espec-
ially strong, the top of the breastwork being faced with heavy
logs, squared and pierced with loopholes, like a block house.
The storming party which was to attack it was formed of
twelve picked regiments, three of which were taken from the
Vermont brigade. These were the Second, commanded by
Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pingree of the Third ; the Fifth, Major
Dudley, and the Sixth, Lieut. Colonel Hale, all under com-
mand of Colonel T. O. Seaver of the Third. The command
of the column was committed to the gallant Colonel Emory
Upton of the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York, com-
manding a brigade of Eicketts's division. At five o'clock the
regiments selected unslung knapsacks, assembled in an open
space in front of the breastworks of the Sixth corps, and
were then marched silently forward to the farther edge of a
strip of woods, which concealed them from the enemy. Here
Colonel Upton formed his command in three lines — the first
consisting of his own brigade — the One Hundred and Twenty-
first New York, Fifth Maine, Ninety-sixth and One Hundred
and Ninteenth Pennsylvania ; the second of five regiments
of Neill's and Russell's brigades — the Sixth Maine, Fifth
Wisconsin, Forty-third and Seventy-seventh New York
1 The Fourth lost two men killed and eighteen wounded in this skir-
mish.
444 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and Forty-ninth Pennsylvania ; the third of the three Ver-
mont regiments. The bullets from the enemy's skirmishers,
scarce a hundred yards distant, were whistling through the
trees, and the men were directed to lie down till the word to
advance should be given. The sounds of musketry and
artillery — for, unlike the Wilderness, the artillery played an
important part at Spottsylvania — came heavily from the right,
where Warren's troops were struggling through the swamps
and jungles, to be met by a terrible greeting in front of
Longstreet's breastworks and to fall back through blazing
woods, in which a number of wounded men were burned
alive. Then the Sixth corps artillery, upon the crest behind
the column, opened a tremendous fire on the salient. This
ceased at six o'clock, as suddenly as it began, and Upton
gave the order to advance. His men sprang to their feet,
and with hearty cheers, burst out into the open ground.
They were met by a sweeping front and flank fire of musketry
and canister, but pushed straight onward; reached and
mounted the opposing breastworks ; engaged the Confederates
"behind them in a hand-to-hand fight; took 900 prisoners,
drove out the rest ; and pressing forward to a second line of
"works, took them also, with a battery posted in them.
The salient was thus carried ; and if Mott's division of
the Second corps, which was to support Upton, had followed
him into the works, it could have been held, with very serious
results to the enemy. But Mott's advance was checked by
the enfilading fire of the enemy's batteries, and Upton was
left without support. The enemy rallied against him in
vastly superior force. Gordon's division of four brigades
attacked him in front, and the three brigades of Battles,
Daniels and Walker pressed on his flanks. It was plain that
lie could not stay, and General Kussell, his division com-
mander, who had watched the movement from the opposite
crest, ordered a retreat. Most of the column fell back, first
filling the guns they had taken with sods, to prevent their
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 445
being served against them. But a number of the Vermonters
failed to get the order to withdraw with the rest, and refused
to go back, insisting that they could hold the works they were
in, and that in fact it was safer to stay than to go. Colonel
Upton rode back to them, to order them away; but their
answer to him was : " We don't want to go. Send us am-
munition and rations, and we can stay here six months."
They did stay for two hours after the rest of the column had
gone back. During this time General Wright rode up to
Lieut. General Grant, and reported that some of his
(Wright's) Yermonters were still in the salient and would not
come away. " What shall I do ?" he asked. " Pile in the
men and hold it," was Grant's reply.1 General Wright went
back to do this ; but meantime, under positive orders from
General Russell, the Yermont regiments had been withdrawn.
Four companies of the Third Yermont, under Captain Kenes-
son, which had been on the skirmish line, advanced with the
column, and some of them were among the last to leave the
salient. After the failure of the movement they re-estab-
lished the skirmish line. Upton's charge made him a brig-
adier, and is one of the famous charges in the history of the
army. That he failed to hold the ground he gained was not
his fault, nor that of the Yermonters under him. Had a divi-
sion been " piled in" to the support of them, there would have
been no need of the bloodshed, two days later, which gave
to the point of the salient its name of " the bloody angle."
The brigade lost in this affair, including the casualties
on the skirmish line, 88 men, as foUows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing.
Second Vermont Regiment, 123
Third " " 0 10 1
Fourth " " 2 18 0
Fifth " " 1 19 12
Sixth " " 2 17 0
Total, 6 66 16
1 Statement of C. C. Coffin, war correspondent at army headquarters.
446 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The Fifth regiment lost this day its last field officer, the
intrepid Major Dudley, who was among the foremost in this
as in every desperate endeavor. He died, a few days later,
from his wound, as has been more fully related in the history
of the Fifth regiment. Among the officers severely wounded
were Captain Cook of the Third, and Captain Keith of the
Sixth.
The brigade lay behind its entrenchments that night and
the next day. The fighting was confined to skirmishing and
heavy artillery firing. The works on each side had, however,
been made quite strong, and the men were well covered.
About dark the troops of the Vermont brigade were relieved
in the rifle-pits, and permitted to bivouac and get some rest
in a field in the rear. It was on this day General Grant sent
to Washington his famous despatch : "I propose to fight it
out on this line, if it takes all summer."
The 12th of May — the most important of the twelve
days spent in the lines of Spottsylvania — opened with fog
and rain. During the previous night, Hancock's corps had
been brought from the right to the left of the Sixth corps ;
and arrangements were made for a far more formidable
assault on the salient than that of the 10th. This took place
as soon as it was light enough to see in the morning, with
brilliant success. Barlow's and Birney's divisions led the
assault, rushed up the slope to the Confederate entrench-
ments in face of a severe fire, pushed through the abatis,
mounted the breastworks at and near the apex of the salient,
and captured the larger part of its defenders. Before six
o'clock A. M., General Hancock had reported the capture of
Maj. General Johnson, Brig. General Stuart, 4,000 Confed-
erate infantry, 20 guns, several thousand stand of small arms,
and over thirty colors. Of course, General Lee could not
afford to have his centre thus pierced ; and he made every effort
to repair the disaster. He threw heavy reinforcements into
his second line of works, and with Gordon's, Mahone's and
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 447
Wilcox's divisions attacked the troops of the Second corps,
still in the disorder of their success, and pressed them back,
till they reached and rallied behind the outer face of the
captured breastworks, where, with a line of skirmishers in
front within the salient, they made a stand. Meantime, the
Sixth corps had been ordered to support Hancock, and
taking Russell's and Getty's divisions, General Wright ad-
vanced promptly up to the west angle of the salient. As the
Yermont brigade moved up the slope it came under a severe
artillery fire from the enemy's guns on its right, and lost
a number of men. As soon as it arrived at the salient,
General L. A. Grant was ordered to relieve the portion
of Barlow's division which was holding the west face of
the salient near the apex. He did this, forming his brig-
ade in a double line, and throwing out a line of skirmishers,
under a brisk fire of both musketry and artillery from the
enemy, now ' gathering in heavy force in front. General
Hancock was there in person, and seeing that General Russell
was hardly pressed, a short distance to the right, ordered
General Grant to go to his assistance with two regiments,
leaving the rest where they were, to face the enemy till
he could put other troops in their place. Accordingly, leav-
ing Colonel Seaver in command of the other three regi-
ments, Grant took the Fourth and Fifth regiments to the
western angle of the salient. Here General Wheaton with
his brigade was supporting Eussell and endeavoring to ad-
vance through a thick growth of bushes and in face of a
severe fire from the portion of the works on that side of the
salient that was still held by the enemy. The two Ver-
mont regiments moved forward gallantly and the Fourth
took and held a portion of the front line of breastworks to
the right of the angle. Soon Colonel Seaver came up with
the rest of the brigade, and leaving the Fourth regiment with
1 About 8 o'clock A. M.
448 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
General Wheaton, and holding the Sixth in reserve behind a
swell of ground, General Grant put the Second, Third and
Fifth regiments in along the outer face of the west angle,
which was in imminent danger of recapture. For at this
time, (about 9 o'clock), McGowan's brigade of South Carolina
troops, of Wilcox's division, regained the trenches on the
inner face of the breastwork, from the apex for some distance
down along the west side. And now began one of the most
desperate struggles of the war, for the possession of the
angle. Says General L. A. Grant: "It was literally a hand
"to hand fight. Nothing but the piled up logs of the
"breastworks separated the combatants. Our men would
"reach over the logs and fire into the faces of the enemy,
"and stab over with their bayonets. Many were shot
"and stabbed through crevices and holes in the logs.
"Scores were shot down within a few feet of the death-
" dealing muskets. Men mounted the works, and with
" muskets rapidly handed up, kept up a continuous fire until
" they were shot down, when others would take their places
"and continue the deadly work.1 Some men clubbed their
"muskets, others used clubs and rails. General Upton
" personally attended to the serving of two pieces of artillery
" which, when loaded, were repeatedly wheeled up by hand
" to a low or open place in the works, on the left side of the
"angle, from which the enemy's lines were enfiladed with
"great effect. Several times during the day the rebels showed
" a white flag above the works, and when our fire slackened
"jumped over and surrendered, while others were crowded
44 down to fill their places. It was there that the somewhat
1 As one of many similar incidents, it is related that private W. W.
Noyes, of Company F. of the Second Vermont, mounted the breast-
works, when loaded muskets were passed up to him by his comrades from
below, and he fired thirty shots into the enemy lying in the trenches a few
feet away. The bullets whistled thickly around him, and one knocked
his cap from his head, but he escaped unhurt.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 449
" celebrated tree was cut off by bullets ; there that the brush
"and logs were cut to pieces and whipped into basket-stuff;
"there that fallen men's flesh was torn from their bones and
"the bones shattered ; there that the rebel ditches and cross-
" sections were filled with dead men several deep. Some of
"the wounded were almost entirely buried by the dead
"bodies of their companions that had fallen upon them.
"In this way the Vermont brigade was engaged for about
"eight hours." The reports of other eye witnesses on both
sides fully confirm these statements of the closeness and
deadliness of the struggle. The Confederate General Mc-
Gowan, says : " Our men lay on one side of the breastwork,
the enemy on the other ; and in many instances men were
pulled over. The trenches on the right, in the angle, ran
with blood, and had to be cleared of the dead more than
once. An oak tree, twenty-two inches in diameter,in the rear
of the brigade, was cut down by the constant scaling of
musket balls, and fell about twelve o'clock Thursday night,
injuring several men in the First South Carolina regiment."1
Mr. Swinton says : "Of all the struggles of the war, this was
"perhaps the fiercest and most deadly. The enemy's most
"savage sallies were directed to retake the famous salient,
"which was now become an angle of death and presented a
" spectacle ghastly and terrible. On the Confederate side of
"the works lay many corpses of those who had been bay-
"oneted by Hancock's men when they first leaped the
" intrenchments. To these were constantly added the bravest
"of those who in the assaults to recapture the position, fell
"at the margin of the works, till the ground was literally
" covered with piles of dead. I speak of what I personally
"saw. In the vicious phraseology commonly employed by
1 General MeGowan reported a loss of 451 men, killed, wounded and
missing, in this action, including four regimental commanders and twenty
five other officers.
450 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
" those who never witnessed a battlefield, 'piles of dead*
fc* figure much more frequently than they exist in the reality.
" The phrase is here no figure of speech, as can be attested
"by thousands who witnessed the ghastly scene. The mus-
" ketry fire had the effect to kill the whole forest within its
" range, and there is at Washington the trunk of a tree,
"eighteen inches in diameter, which was actually cut in two
"by the bullets." Outside of the angle the carnage was less
frightful ; but in the bushes and along the ground in front of
the rebel breastworks, for nearly half a mile, lay hundreds of
bodies of men of the Second and Sixth corps, who fell in the
assault. The fight at the angle continued with great fury till
nearly dark, the rain falling heavily meantime, and the dark-
ness settling early. It then began to abate but did not cease
till three o'clock next morning, when Lee gave up the hopeless
effort to retake the salient, and withdrew his men to a new
line of works, which had been built during the night across
the base of the salient, three-fourths of a mile back from the
angle.
It was about dark when the Vermont brigade, its am-
munition being exhausted, was relieved by other troops at the
angle, and was sent round to the right, the men feeling their
way in the darkness through dense woods, till permitted to
halt and rest for the night. There was some fighting done
elsewhere along the lines by the Fifth and Ninth corps this
day, and the Army of the Potomac lost in all 6,820 men
killed, wounded and missing, while it inflicted on Lee a loss
never definitely reported, but moderately estimated by
General Humphreys at between 9,000 and 10,000 — the larger
part of which took place in the salient. Two Confederate
brigadiers were killed and four wounded severely, and a major
general and a brigadier general were captured. On the Union
side General Wright was wounded early in the day, but
retamed command of the corps, and two brigade commanders,
Webb and Carroll of the Second corps, were wounded.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 451
The loss of the Vermont brigade was 254, as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total.
Second Vermont regiment, 19 76 6 101
Third, " " 9 43 3 55
Fourth, " " 2 26 6 34
Fifth, " " 9 34 8 51
Sixth, " 3 7 3 13
Total, 42 186 26 254
This was the last day of hard fighting at Spottsylvania.
Next day the Yermont brigade moved back to the left, and
on Saturday, the 14th, it moved with the Sixth corps two miles
to the south, and was posted on the left of the corps, near
the Anderson house, on the Ny river, a mile and a half east
of Spottsylvania Court House.
The event of the next day was the accession to the
brigade of the Eleventh Vermont regiment, Colonel Warner,
which, after two years of service as heavy artillery in the
forts around Washington, had now been attached to the Ver-
mont brigade. Marching from Washington via Belle Plain
and Fredericksburg, it reached the front and joined the
brigade on Sunday morning, May 15th. It was, as it were, a
brigade in itself, having 1,500 officers and men in its line — a
larger number than was now left of the other five regiments
put together. It was finely equipped, ably officered, and in
all respects a splendid body of soldiers. With 150 recruits,
which were added to the old regiments at this time, this
accession more than made good in numbers the losses of the
"brigade in the campaign, and put new heart into the sur-
vivors. The new comers found the veterans o'f the old brigade
physically worn, but stout of heart, enthusiastic, even ex-
hilarated in spirit; for they knew that they had done their
duty in every fight in which they had taken part, and they
were ready for whatever effort or danger the future might
bring.
On the 16th, a reconnoissance was made by Colonel
Seaver, with the Third regiment, to the south of Spottsylvania
452 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Court House, to determine the situation in that quarter, pre-
paratory to the next movement of the army by the left flank,
which Lieut. General Grant had now decided on. But before
putting the army again in motion, he concluded, upon General
Wright's suggestion, to make one more attempt on General
Lee's left, which it was surmised had been considerably
weakened to reinforce his threatened right. For this assault
the Second and Sixth corps were again selected, and in the
night of the 17th, were moved back to the vicinity of the
captured salient, from which at daylight next day they were
to assault Lee's line across the base of the salient. Start-
ing after dark, the troops had a muddy and by no means
cheerful all-night march through the brush and swamps,
getting into position before daybreak in the captured trenches
on the west side of the salient and in the rifle pits extending
from them to the right, built to connect them with the former
line of the Sixth corps. About four in the morning Barlow
and Gibbon of the Second corps, moved to the attack in
lines of brigades, and the Sixth corps advanced at the same
time on their right. The Yermont brigade was in two lines
of battle — the old regiments in front, and the Eleventh,
which owing to its size was manoeuvred in three battalions,1
forming the second line. The troops of the Second corps,
being nearest to the point of attack, reached it first, and
found that the enemy was still there in strong force, and
protected by formidable works, access to which was impeded
by slashings of timber and double linos of abatis. His
artillery and musketry swept the ground in front ; and though
the lines of Barlow and Gibbon reached the abatis, they
could get no further and fell back under cover, with some
loss.
1 The Eleventh had twelve companies, averaging 125 men each. Each
battalion thus had eight platoons, and was handled like a regiment of eight
companies. The three battalions exceeded any brigade in the division in
numbers.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 453
In the advance of the Sixth corps, the Vermont regiments
moved through the woods, with hostile shells crashing and
cracking through the branches over their heads, and thence
out into open ground, to the base of a slope, where the brigade
was halted to dress the lines for the charge. Starting with
three brigades in front of it, the brigade soon overtook the
front line, and was kindly permitted by the troops in advance
of it to take the front. Here it awaited the order to
advance. The enemy's batteries to the right had now got
good range ; and the brigade "commander's order to lie down
was cheerfully obeyed bj his command. The rebel sharp-'
shooters were also busy in the tree-tops in front, and
Colonel Warner received a wound through the neck, which
narrowly escaped being a mortal one. He retained command
however, and his men, animated by his example, conducted
themselves with remarkable steadiness, in this their first
experience under fire. The expected charge, however,
was not ordered. General Meade, in view of the diffi-
cult and doubtful character of the attempt, had ordered it to
be suspended, and about noon, the troops of both corps were
withdrawn, and the brigade marched back to its former posi-
tion, south of the Ny, and on the extreme left of the army.
The casualties in the brigade in this affair numbered 37,
almost all in the Second, Third and Eleventh regiments — the
latter having twelve men wounded, among the number
being Lieutenant Glazier, who lost an arm.
After two days and nights spent in this position, during
which the lines were advanced about a mile on the left, the
Sixth corps started, in the evening of the 21st, for Guinea
Station, eight miles south, on its way to the North Anna
River. The Yermont brigade was among the last troops of
the corps to leave, and as the enemy, aware that the move-
ment of the army had begun, pressed closely on its rear,
the withdrawal was a delicate matter, and the duty on the
skirmish line — in which the Yermonters so excelled — called
454 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
for all their watchfulness and steadiness. In this service, dur-
ing the night of the 20th and day and night of the 21st, a
detail of 200 men from the Eleventh regiment, under com-
mand of Captain A. F. Walker, reinforced on the 21st by 50
men under Captain James Rice, all under Major Hunsdon,
as field officer of the brigade for the day, took part, and
showed their quality, as equal to the best. As a sample of
what picket duty was, at this time, their experience is worth
describing somewhat in detail. The opposing picket lines,
to the southeast of Spottsylvania Court House, were pressed
closely together, the pickets sheltering themselves behind
trees or other cover. The shooting was so close upon any
exposure, that the reliefs could only reach their posts during
daylight by crawling out on their hands and knees ; and as a
rule the line was relieved only at night. All night long the
firing kept up at the slightest sound or motion, and the strain
of incessant watchfulness was severe. During the morning
of the 21st, the men learned that the corps and the army had
quietly moved to the south, leaving the skirmish line to
maintain a front against the enemy. Towards noon, an order
was whispered along the line, to withdraw half a mile to the
rear, to a line of rifle-pits which for several days had pro-
tected the front line of the corps. The skirmishers could
not be withdrawn unseen, and the retirement was accom-
plished by the pickets' starting at a given signal and making
a dead run amid flying bullets to the rear. They were
sharply pursued by the Confederate pickets, till they brought
up in the rifle-pits, when their pursuers thought best to halt.
There were barely men enough, including the picket reserves,
to man the pits with a single thin line. The line to the right
of the Yermonters was held by a detail of Massachusetts
troops. Here they held their ground till five o'clock, when
General Wilcox, of Hill's corps, who had been sent out to
ascertain what Union force still remained in front of Spott-
sylvania Court House, attacked the rifle-pits with two brig-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 455
ades and a section of artillery. He was twice repulsed, with
considerable loss.
On a third attempt one of Wilcox's regiments succeeded
in reaching and planting its colors on the breastworks at the
right of the Yermonters. The troops in that portion of
the rifle-pits gave way, and the enemy moved down the line
of the pits to flank the small Union force out of them.
Captain Walker, however, with remarkable coolness and
spirit, held most of his men, and by a sharp flank fire kept
the enemy in check till Colonel Seaver, who had been sent
back with the Third regiment to reinforce the skirmish line,
arrived, when, with the aid of artillery, the enemy was driven
out of the rifle-pits and soon retired, having gained no in-
formation they did not possess before. Two men of the
Eleventh were killed in this affair, and were buried in the
intrenchments where they fell, and several were wounded.
This picket detail of the Eleventh spent a second night of
constant watching in the rifle-pits, till nearly daylight of the
22d, when orders came to follow the corps. They then quietly
filed out, and marched, with a single halt for breakfast, till
three P. M., when they overtook the brigade at Guinea
Station. There the march was resumed with the corps and
kept up till after dark ; was again taken up at daybreak oi
the 23d, and was kept up until nine p. M., the last five miles
being a forced march to the support of the Fifth corps, then
under fire at the crossing of the North Anna — thus giving
the detail, as an official report states, out of seventy-four
hours of time, sixty-seven hours of about the hardest pos-
sible duty, with a fight thrown in.
The Sixth corps halted the night of the 22d at Harris's
store, about five miles south of Guinea Station, and the next
day, after a hot and dusty march, constantly impeded by the
army trains, reached the North Anna river at Jericho Mills,
where the army was concentrating along both banks. Here
again, General Lee, marching lightest and by the most direct
456 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
roads, had placed the Army of Northern Virginia across the
way of the Army of the Potomac. The Fifth corps, which
preceded the Sixth on the march, after crossing the North
Anna on the afternoon of the 23d, was attacked by A4 P.
Hill, but repulsed him. The Sixth corps hastened forward
to reinforce the Fifth ; but was not needed, and camped that
night on the northern bank of the river. In this movement
to the North Anna General Grant abandoned Fredericksburg
as his base of supply, which was now shifted to Port Royal,
on the Rappahannock.
The losses of the brigade, in action, in the three weeks
since it crossed the Rapidan, were reported by General L. A.
Grant on the 23d of May, to be 249 killed, 1,231 wounded,
170 missing, total 1,650, of which 1,634 were from the
original regiments. Of the wounded not less than 190 died of
their wounds ; and to these losses were to be added about
100 more discharged for disability, and about 300 who had
broken down under the fatigues and exposures of the cam-
paign, and had been sent to Northern hospitals. Less than
half the veterans who were in the ranks on the 1st of May,
now answered to the roll call, and of the officers but a third
remained.
The town of Fredericksburg had now become one vast
hospital. Its churches, public buildings and most of its
private houses of any size were filled with wounded men
sent by thousands from the battlefields of the Wilderness
and Spottsylvania. The untold agonies suffered by these in
the long ambulance journeys over rough and corduroyed
roads, and by many from lack of proper care after reaching
Fredericksburg, can scarcely be imagined, certainly not
described. Under the enormous influx of sick and wounded
men, the hospital supplies and surgical force proved at first
quite insufficient. The surgeons stood at the operating
tables till their swollen feet could no longer support them,
and till their exhausted nerves failed to guide the hands
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 457
which grasped the knives. The thousand Yermonters taken
thither probably fared better than the majority of this
army of unfortunates, owing to the extraordinary efforts put
forth by the State authorities for their relief. Governor
Smith and Surgeon General Thayer went in person to Fred-
ericksburg, and gave able and unwearied effort to the care of
the wounded, and the surgical force in charge of them was
enlarged by despatching thither fifteen or twenty of the
best physicians and surgeons in Vermont.1 In the last week
in May the wounded were all taken from Fredericksburg
to Washington by transports ; and from thence hundreds of
the Vermonters were sent to Vermont, where, in the large
army hospitals at Burlington, Montpelier and Brattleboro,
provision had been made for the care of over 1,500 patients.
In the year ending September 10, 1864, 2,551 sick and
wounded Vermonters were received and cared for in these
hospitals, and over 600 soldiers of other States.
The Sixth corps crossed the North Anna in the morning
of the 24th, but was not called on to take any part in the
fighting by which the position of the enemy was develope d
and the brigade had two days of comparative rest, though in
plain sight of the enemy. Lieut. General Grant found that
Lee, who had been reinforced by Breckenridge's division and
1 Among those so sent, who rendered valuable service in the Fred-
ericksburg and Washington hospitals, were Doctors G. F. Gale of Brattle-
boro; J. M. Knox, of Burlington; C. M. Chandler, of Montpelier; C. G.
Adams, of Island Pond: W. M. Huntington, of Rochester; A. C. Welch;
of Williston; J. F. Miles, of Hinesburgh; D. W. Haselton, of Cavendish,
H. Powers, of Morrisville ; B. Fairchild, of Milton ; S. Newell and H. S.
Brown, of St. Johnsbury, and C. S. Cahoon, of Lyndon.
Surgeon Stevens, of the Seventy-seventh New York, wrote from Fred-
ericksburg on the llth of May: "We are almost worked to death. All day
yesterday I worked at the operating table. That was the fourth day at the
tables, besides two whole nights and part of another. It does not seem as
though I could take a knife in my hand to day. Yet there are a hundred
cases of amputations waiting for me. It is a scene of horror such as I never
saw. Hundreds of ambulances are coming in now, and it is almost mid-
night. So they come every night."
458 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
other troops, occupied a position so guarded by swamps and
streams that he could only be attacked at great disadvantage,
and in the night of the 26th, he withdrew the Army of the
Potomac and resumed his flank movement, moving on the
north side of the North Anna to ihe southeast, till he reached
Hanovertown on the Pamuukey Elver, fifteen miles north of
Richmond. The march was a trying one, for the mud was
deep that night, and the heat next day oppressive.
The brigade crossed the Pamunkey with the division
on the 27th, three miles above Hanovertown, and then, turn-
ing back, marched two miles toward Hanover Court House.
The next day it marched south some six miles, to a position
along Totopotomoy Creek, where it guarded the right flank
of the army and maintained an extensive picket line, while
the army was slowly crowding its way toward the Confederate
capital, against ceaseless opposition. During the incessant
skirmishing and more serious fighting of May 30th, however,
the brigade was not engaged.
On the 31st, the skirmish lines were everywhere pressed
closely against the enemy and the pickets of Major Cham-
berlain's battalion of the Eleventh had a lively day of
it, though they lost but one man killed, and but three or
four wounded. This battalion was left on the picket line
when the brigade left, next day, and did not join it till the
next night.1
On the night of the 31s fc of May, the Sixth corps was
detached from the army and sent forward to occupy Cold
Harbor, where Grant had decided to force the passage of the
1 " During all these marches, the engagement at Spottsylvania, and the
assault upon the picket line, there were only four or five missing, or one in
three hundred ; and this, too, in a regiment of only ten days' field service,
and whose longest previous march was four miles. This is a record which
I think, has never been equalled."— Report of Lieut. Colonel Benton, com-
manding Eleventh Vermont.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 459
Chickahominy.1 The position there was a most important
one ; for at that point five roads meet, leading thence to the
crossings of the Chickahominy and to Kichmond, and also
to White House, the new base of the Army of the Poto-
mac. The possession of Cold Harbor was indeed essential,
either to the immediate investment of Kichmond from the
north and east, or to the proposed movement to the James,
already planned by Lieut. General Grant. Sheridan, with
the cavalry, had occupied the position on the 31st after a
sharp fight, and was holding it against heavy opposition and
increasing numbers, at noon the next day, when the Sixth
corps came in sight. The day was sultry, the dust ankle
deep, and the march exhausting in the extreme ; and the men
were glad to halt, even it were to fight. They arrived just in
time to relieve the cavalry, who could not have held their
ground half an hour longer. Here General Wright was joined
during the afternoon by General William F. Smith, who had
moved up from White House with a column of 10,000 men
of the Eighteenth and Tenth corps, the latter under General
Brooks, the old commander of the Vermont brigade. These
troops of the Army of the James, with which General Butler
had been threatening Kichmond from the south, had fought
the battle of Drury's Bluff, and had been "bottled up" at
Bermuda Hundred — whence the larger part of Butler's com-
mand was brought, under Smith, to the White House, to co-
operate with the Army of the Potomac. Immediately upon
the detachment of the Sixth corps, Lee had despatched Early
and Longstreet's corps (the latter commanded by Anderson)
to occupy Cold Harbor and protect the crossings of the
Chickahominy. They were not able to do the first ; but
luMany interpretations of Cold Harbor or Coal Harbor have been
given. It has been suggested that the proper form is " Cool Arbor;" but
it would appear that Cold Harbor is a common name for many places along
the travelled roads in England, and means simply " shelter without fire."
Swinton.
460 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
accomplished the last, taking position between the Chicka-
hominy and Cold Harbor, where they intrenched their lines
and awaited Wright's attack. Grant had expected this to be
made in the morning ; but an unfortunate mistake in an order,
which sent General Smith out of his way and delayed him
four or five hours, and the exhausted condition of Wright's
men, after their march, caused it to be postponed till after-
noon.
The Vermont brigade, as was so often the case on forced
marches, led the advance of the Sixth corps, from Hanover-
town to Cold Harbor. The veterans of the older regiments
of the brigade were especially glad to find, on arriving at that
point, that the Sixth corps was to have the support of their
old commanders, Generals Smith and Brooks, in the battle
which was evidently at hand.
CHAPTER XVIL
Cold Harbor— Part Taken by the Vermont Brigade the First Day— The
Assault of the Second Day — Gallant Part of Stannard's Brigade —
Unsuccessful Attack of the Third Day — The Army in Trenches — Ex-
posures and Sufferings of the Troops — Movement of the Army to the
James — Investment of Petersburg — The Vermont Brigade in the front
Line — Movement of the Sixth and Second Corps against the Weldon
Railroad — Heavy Loss of the Brigade — Over 400 Vermonters captured
— Over Half of them die in Rebel Prisons — Expedition against the
Danville and Lynchburg Railroad — Back Again to Washington — Early' s
Raid Against the Capital — The Sixth Corps sent to meet Him — President
Lincoln wants to see the Vermont Brigade — The Engagement in front
of Fort Stevens — Hard Marching in Maryland and Virginia — First
Sight of the Shenandoah Valley — Return to Washington — A Hot Day
at Harper's Ferry and March to Frederick, Md. — Results of Halleck's
Strategy in chasing Cavalry with Infantry — Change of Commanders
—Sketch of General P. H. Sheridan— Return of the Sixth Corps to the
Valley.
It was on the first of June that the Vermont brigade,
marching left in front, moved down across the road leading
from Old Cold Harbor to New Cold Harbor, and fronted
into line on the south of that road, on the left of the
division, and corps, and on the extreme left of the army.
Open ground in front extended to the enemy's line of in-
trenchments, which ran along the edge of some woods,
about half a mile away. These were held by four Confederate
divisions, those of Hoke and Kershaw, so often opposed to
the Sixth corps, being in front of it now. The ground was
nearly the same as that on which the battle of Gaines's
Mill, the first of the Seven Days' battles in 1862, was fought,
with, however, the positions of the combatants reversed.
General Wright had been ordered to attack, at once, on his
arrival, with the co-operation of Smith's command ; but
462 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
for reasons already given the afternoon was well advanced
before the dispositions were completed. In the formation
of the second division for the assault, the Yermont brigade
was placed in the front line, formed in a double line of
battle, with the Third Yermont thrown out as skirm-
ishers. Two other brigades of the division were in its
rear. About five o'clock p. M., fifty Union guns opened
vigorously, in return to those with which the enemy had been
for some time shelling Wright's lines. As the advance was
about to be made, the sudden appearance and firing of a
hostile battery which opened from the left, and a strong
pressure on the skirmish line from the same direction, caused
apprehensions of a flank attack from that quarter. To meet
this, General Neill, commanding the division, was ordered to
refuse the left of his line. Brig. General Grant, under his
orders, accordingly fronted the Fourth and Sixth regiments
and Major Hunsdon's battalion of the Eleventh to the left,
while the Fifth was detached to support a battery close by.
As a consequence of this arrangement these regiments did not
participate in the main assault. The Second regiment, under
Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pingree, and Major Fleming's battalion
of the Eleventh,1 under the immediate command of Lieut.
Colonel Benton, went forward with Russell's division on
their right, which made a simultaneous charge with Rickett's
division farther to the right. It was no holiday work.
The enemy was well posted, his lines covered and con-
cealed by woods, while the attacking troops moved over
open ground. They started at a moderate pace, for the men
had marched hard and had been suffering much from the
heat during the day. Both the artillery and musketry fire in
front was terrific. In twenty minutes nearly a quarter of the
assaulting force had fallen ; but they moved steadily on. At
the centre, General Ricketts, of whose division the Tenth
1 Consisting of Companies F. L. K. and H. , to which Company E.
•was added for the time being.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 463
Vermont regiment formed a part, advancing along the line of
the road to New Cold Harbor, struck the enemy's main line,
took 600 prisoners of Hoke's and Kershaw's divisions, and
though compelled by a rally of the latter to relinquish a
part of the works after entering them, also held a part.1
Upton's brigade entered the Confederate intrenchments on
the left of Eickett's. The brigade on the right of the Ver-
mont regiments did not reach the works in front, but halted
about 300 yards from them. Fleming's battalion, however,
pressed on to within 100 yards of the enemy's breastwork,
when, discovering that the battalion was advancing alone,
without support on either flank, Colonel Benton halted and
withdrew it a short distance. Here, throwing themselves flat,
the men secured partial shelter from the bullets which
whistled over and around them by digging shallow trenches
with their bayonets, tin plates and cups, and held their
ground till nightfall. On the right of the Sixth corps,
Devens's division, with heavy loss of officers and men, cap-
tured an advanced line of rifle-pits. Still farther to the right
Brooks's division was repulsed from the enemy's main line.
The sun sank red in the west, on a field veiled by clouds of
smoke and dust, and the stretcher-bearers were busy along a
front of over two miles. The enemy continued their efforts
to regain the captured works till nine o'clock, when they
ceased. During the night "Wright and Smith intrenched the
positions they had gained. In this assault the battalion of
the Eleventh engaged lost 13 men killed and 107 wounded.
The Second Vermont had nine men wounded. The loss of
the Sixth corps in killed and wounded was about 1,200, and
of the Eighteenth corps 900.
The next day was occupied in making arrangements for
a renewal, in much stronger force, of the effort to force the
passage of the Chickahominy. Hancock's corps was placed
1 The Tenth Vermont distinguished itself, capturing almost entire the
Fifty first North Carolina. The Tenth lost about 180 killed and wounded.
464 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
on the left of Wright, taking in part the place of the Second
division of the Sixth corps, which was brought around to the
right of the corps to take the place of Devens's division which
was moved still further to the right. The corps of Warren
and Burnside were posted on the right of Smith. In this
arrangement, Neill's division, of which the Vermont brigade
was a part, occupied with its front line the rifle-pits which
Devens had carried the day before. The front was a narrow
one, and the division was formed in successive lines, the Ver-
mont regiments forming the fourth line. The bulging of the
Union line to the front at this point, however, brought the
entire division, rear as well as front, under fire during the
skirmishing, which was often brisk in front; and the troops
were only saved from serious loss by burrowing in the sandy
soil. General Lee, on his part, was also concentrating his
army, and industriously strengthening his breastworks, three
parallel lines of which guarded his centre. Generals Grant
and Meade had intended to make the grand assault at four in
the afternoon of the 2d ; but various delays and a severe
thunder storm at that hour led to a postponement of it to the
next day.
Next morning, Friday, Jane 3d, the men, who had lain
on their arms all night, were roused in the gray of the early
dawn, and shortly before five o'clock the cracking along the
skirmish line announced the beginning of the assault. The
Second, Sixth and Eighteenth corps were rushing forward
against the hostile breastworks, now wrapped in folds of white
smoke, while bursting from behind them, a pitiless storm of
lead and iron swept the slopes and hollows in front.
Hancock's corps lost a thousand men in fifteen minutes,
and though it forced its way into the enemy's works at two
points, taking three guns and several hundred prisoners, it
could not hold them and was forced back ; retaining, however,
an advanced position, where it intrenched and held its
ground.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. . 465
Of the Sixth corps, the second division, whicn was on
the right of the corps, was formed for the attack in three
lines, the Vermont brigade forming the second line. The
front line, composed of two regiments of Wheaton's brigade,
drove the enemy's skirmishers from a line of rifle-pits and
advanced to the edge of a piece of woods, about two hundred
yards from the enemy's main line of intrenchments. The
Union lines on either hand were making no headway, and
Wheaton halted ; the Vermont brigade moved up behind
him, and at his request, General L. A. Grant now relieved
his line, placing in its stead the Third and Fifth Vermont
regiments, while Wheaton took his brigade back, leaving
the Vermont brigade in front of the division. But no further
advance was ordered from that point.
The other divisions on its left had been, if anything, less
successful ; though advanced positions were gained and held,
in some places within forty yards of the enemy's works.
The Sixth corps lost 800 men that morning, including some
valuable officers. On the right of the Sixth corps, Martin-
dale's division, of General Smith's command, made a gallant
advance. His leading brigade was commanded by a well
known Vermonter, General George J. Stannard, who after
recovering from his wound received at Gettysburg, was
assigned to the command of a brigade of the Eighteenth
corps. Moving down a ravine which opened out at a point
where the enemy's lines made a re-entrant angle, Stannard
made three gallant and desperate charges. Twice he nearly
reached the breastworks in front ; but the raking fire from
both flanks was too deadly to be endured, and he relinquished
the attempt ; but not till after every regimental commander
but one, sixty per cent, of his line officers and fifty per cent,
of the men of his brigade had fallen. Stannard was himself
wounded in the thigh, but kept his saddle, and he lost every
member of his personal staff, killed or wounded. Among
them was Lieutenant George W. Hooker, of the Fourth Ver-
466 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
mont, who received two dangerous wounds in his shoulder
and side. With the aid of a single orderly, alone remaining
of his personal attendants, Stannard withdrew the shattered
remnant of his brigade and re-formed it in the rear. Still
further to the right Brooks's division suffered severely, and
gained little ground. The Eighteenth corps lost a thousand
men. Another thousand was lost by *the Fifth and Ninth
corps. No decisive advantage was gained at any point. The
assault was a general failure.
Preparations were made, however, by the corps com-
manders, to renew it at noon. In the new dispositions for
this, the Vermont brigade, now in the front line, was to lead
the division. The enterprise looked like a forlorn hope.
The men were maintaining their position in the open timber,
by lying closely on the ground. The skirmishers, of the
Third and Fifth regiments, in the edge of the woods, were
sharply engaged and losing a good many men. The enemy's
main lines were in full view from the skirmish line, his
intrenchments evidently strong and amply defended, and
artillery and musketry were in full and eager play on both
sides. The order to advance was awaited under these cir-
cumstances, not with impatience, yet with stern determina-
tion; but it did not come. This was the time, when,
according to Mr. Greeley and Mr. Swinton, the soldiers of
the Army of the Potomac with one consent deliberately
refused to obey an order to renew the attack. This statement
has been squarely denied by General Grant,1 and indignantly
repelled by many soldiers. Certainly there was never a time
when the Sixth corps or the Vermont brigade refused to
NEW YORK, February 7th, 1884.
'"I never gave any order to any army that I commanded during the
rebellion, to make an attack, where it was disobeyed. It is possible that
] have given an order for an attack for a certain hour and afterward con-
cluded that it would be better, possibly, not to make it ; but I do not
remember that any such circumstance as that took place at Cold Harbor."
U. S. GRANT.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 467
attack when ordered. The facts were, as stated by General
Humphreys, adjutant general of the Army of the Potomac,
that as early as seven o'clock in the morning, Lieut. General
Grant had directed General Meade to suspend the assault at
the moment it became clear that it was not likely to succeed.
At a later hour, after consulting his corps commanders and
learning that with the exception of General Wright they
were not sanguine of success, he directed General Meade not
to renew the attack.
There was a sharp clash of picket lines and their sup-
ports on the right of the Second and left of the Sixth corps at
eight o'clock that evening, in which the enemy was repulsed,
and with this the battle of Cold Harbor ended. The loss of
the Yermont brigade in it was 104 men, almost all of the
Third and Fifth regiments — the Third losing 10 killed and
56 wounded, and the Fifth seven killed and 22 wounded.
During the night of the 3d, General Wright directed General
L. A. Grant to send half of the brigade to strengthen
General Russell's division. The Third, Fifth and two bat-
talions of the Eleventh, under Colonel Seaver, were accord-
ingly detached and sent to the left, where they were placed
in the front line. The rest of the Vermont brigade retained
its position in the front line of the Second division.
As Lieut. General Grant was now desirous to detain as
much of Lee's army as possible near Eichmond, while an
expedition under General Hunter moved up the Shenandoah
Valley against Lynchburg and the Confederate lines of
supply by rail and canal accessible from that point, he gave
orders to the corps commanders of the Army of the Potomac
to intrench their lines, and to press them against those of the
enemy by saps and parallels. In pursuance of these in-
structions ten days now followed of the closest contact with
the enemy possible, short of actual assault in line ; and of the
most incessant and severe exposure that the army had yet
experienced.
468 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
In a few hours after the close of the fighting on the 3d,
the whole army was in trenches. From under the breast-
works zigzag ditches, six feet deep, were run out in front, at
the ends of which smaller breastworks were thrown up for
the picket posts. At night the main trenches would be ad-
vanced to the skirmish line, and fresh saps pushed forward.
This had to be done under fire at short rifle range from
the enemy's lines,1 while his guns commanded almost every
rod of ground for a breadth of half a mile along the five or
six miles of the front of the Army of the Potomac. The
musketry firing on the front lines was continuous, and the
slightest exposure made the soldier a target; while to
frequent showers of shell and grape from the enemy's field
batteries was added the work of siege howitzers, set on end,,
which dropped large shells within the Union trenches.*
No reliefs or changes of troops could be made except at
night, and any sound brought a response of bullets or shells^
Confederate sharpshooters, posted in tree tops, picked off
1 At some points the Union approaches were within forty yards of the
Confederate parapets.
2 The following incident, related by Captain Walker, of the Eleventh
Vermont, shows something of the vigor and accuracy of the enemy's artillery
at this time:
"During one of the last nights of our stay at Cold Harbor, a com-
pany of regular engineers threw up in the midst of our brigade a little earth-
work for the use of a section of artillery which was placed in position just
at daybreak. The enthusiastic artillerists had great expectations in regard
to the damage about to be inflicted upon the enemy by their two little field
pieces, and at " sun-up," as our colored brothers say, they opened vigor-
ously. It was intended for a surprise, and it was, not alone to the enemy;
but also and especially to our "regular" allies, who were spending their
first morning under fire. It could not have been more than ten minutes,
before, to their consternation and our amusement, the whole concern,
earthwork, guns, gun-carriages, platforms and artillery had disappeared in
a cloud of dust and smoke, literally knocked to pieces by the concentrated
fire of half a dozen hidden rebel batteries. At night the poor artillerists
gathered up the fragments of their field pieces, and quietly retired, sadder
and wiser men."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 469
the officers, if they moved outside of the embankments which
protected the tents. The health of the men, especially of
those in the front lines, began to suffer from overwork, con-
stant watching and exposure to the scalding sun while lying
in the trenches, as well as from the scantiness of the supply
of water, want of vegetable rations, insufficient cooking of
their food — for the cooking was necessarily of the rudest —
and from the contamination of the air by the numbers of
unburied bodies of dead men and animals between and
behind the lines. Under these circumstances, for ten days,
the Vermont brigade held the front trenches at two im-
portant points, the regiments relieving each other, but the
brigade as a whole having no relief. During all this time
hostilities were in progress except for an hour or two on the
7th, when a flag of truce brought a brief respite. During
this period the brigade lost 48 men killed and wounded by
the enemy's pickets and sharpshooters, each regiment having
its share of the loss. Among the killed was the gallant
young major of the Sixth, Major Crandall, who was shot in
the abdomen by a sharpshooter, on the 7th, and died in a
few hours.
Preparations were now in progress for the next import-
ant movement of the Army of the Potomac, which was to
pass to the south side of the James Kiver and to secure a
position where it could at once threaten the Confederate
€apital and intercept its main lines of communication and
supply from the south. This plan involved a withdrawal
from lines in the closest contact with those of the enemy, a
march of fifty-five miles across the Peninsula, and the cross-
ing of a large river. Its first result was expected to be the
seizure of Petersburg, which was only an outlying defence of
Richmond, though twenty miles distant from it. All of these
operations but the seizure of Petersburg were executed by
Lieut. General Grant with consummate skill and absolute
success. The attempt to occupy Petersburg by a coup de
470 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
main failed, and its reduction was only effected by ten months
of siege.
The Army of the Potomac started for the James River,
on the night of June 12th, General Warren with the Fifth
corps covering the movement by a feint against Richmond
from the left, while General Smith withdrew his command
to White House, and proceeded thence by water around to
and up the James to the neck of land named from the village
of Bermuda Hundred, ten miles north of Petersburg, which
General Butler had been holding for a month with a force
of twelve thousand men.
The Yermont brigade was concentrated on the night of
the llth, and started with the Sixth corps on the night of the
12th, leaving the Fourth regiment on picket, in a new line of
rifle-pits, thrown up for the purpose in the rear of Cold
Harbor. The army moved by several roads. The march of
the Sixth corps, which followed the road taken by the Ninth
corps, began in earnest about midnight. In the morning
there was a short halt, for breakfast, near Despatch Station ;
and then the long column moved on steadily all day in a cloud
of stifling dust, outmarching the Ninth corps and passing
down along the Chickahominy, till at sunset it turned to the
south and crossed the river at Jones's Bridge, twenty-three
miles by the road from Cold Harbor. Moving on, it halted
and bivouacked a mile south of the Chickahominy. Starting
at daylight next morning, and marching through a region
whose comfortable farm houses and fine residences were in
strong contrast with the desolations around Richmond, the
corps descended during the forenoon from the high lands to
the undulating plain which skirts the James. Here fields of
tasselled corn and grain already yellow, varied the green of
the meadows ; and old mansions, surrounded by noble groves,
showed how much of ease and wealth had prevailed before
the war. The corps halted a little before noon near the
almost deserted village of Charles City Court House, a mile
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 471
or two from the residence of the late ex-President John
Tyler, now abandoned and stripped of everything the
soldiers considered worth taking.
On the morning of the 15th, the corps moved to the river
at Wilcox's Landing, where it lay for two days guarding the
bridge-head, while the other corps were passing.
In the evening of the 16th, the first and third divisions
of the corps were ferried over in steamboats, while the
second division marched over the ponton bridge, two
thousand feet long — the longest ever laid over such a cur-
rent— which swayed and tossed with the river's tide, but held
fast till it had borne across the larger part of the army and
its train of wagons and artillery ambulances, which poured
over it in a continuous stream, fifty miles long.
PETERSBURG.
On the 15th of June, General Smith was hurried forward
with the Eighteenth corps, which had debarked at Bermuda
Hundred the night before, to Petersburg. He reached the
defences of the city before noon, and before dark had carried
a mile and a half of tho outer intrenchments, including seven
redoubts, and had taken 300 prisoners and 16 guns. In the
assault on the works, Stannard's brigade led the advance of
Martindale's division and lost over 300 men, killed and
wounded. That General Smith did not follow up this advance,
force his way into Petersburg and seize the bridges across the
Appomattox that night, has been called " the mistake of the
campaign;" and it was perhaps the greatest mistake of
General Smith's military career.1 By nine o'clock the troops
1 "General Smith gives, in his report, the following reasons for his
hesitation : "We had broken through the strong line of rebel works ; but
heavy darkness was upon us, and I had heard some hours before that Lee's
army was rapidly crossing at Drury's Bluff. I deemed it wiser to hold
what we had, than by attempting to reach the bridges to lose what we had
472 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of Lee's army began to arrive, to reinforce the two brigades
of Confederate troops and the militia, less than 4,000 all told,
which, under General Beauregard, had hitherto partially
manned the works ; and a new line of intrenchments, thrown
up during the night in the rear of the captured redans, next
morning faced the assailants. Smith had been also reinforced
by Hancock's corps. Each commander now hurried to the
spot all available troops, and within two days the armies of
the Potomac and of Northern Virginia again faced each other,
on the lines of Petersburg.
On the 16th, the Second corps, with two brigades of
Brooks's division of the Eighteenth, carried three more re-
doubts, and at daylight on the 17th, General Potter's division
of the Ninth corps carried about a mile of works, on the ridge
of the Shand House, east of the city, taking four guns and
600 prisoners.
The second division of the Sixth corps, temporarily
detached from the rest of the corps, which had been sent in
transports up to Bermuda Hundred, marched all night
towards Petersburg, after crossing the James, and on reach-
ing the lines next day, the 17th, was posted in some captured
works on the right of the line, relieving General Brooks's
troops, which had carried and occupied Kedan No. 4, the
evening previous.
A picket line of the Second regiment and part of the
Fifth, was thrown out by General Grant, and the rest of the
Yermont troops lay on their arms for the night. Daring the
night General Beauregard withdrew his forces from a large
portion of his front line, to a stronger and shorter line, from
five hundred to a thousand yards nearer the city. The next
afternoon a general assault by all the corps of the army was
ordered by General Meade. While by this, some ground was
gained, and have the troops meet with a disaster." General Smith's cau-
tion has been commended by some ; but it cost him the fame of a brilliant
achievement, and the army many weeks and months of labor and fighting.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 473
gained, its main result was to develop the fact that Peters*
burg was now garrisoned in full force, and that the Confeder-
ate position was too strong to be carried by direct assault.
This information was gained at heavy cost of life and blood.
The Union losses of the three days exceeded 7,UOO killed and
wounded, the larger part being sustained on the 18th. In
this assault, somewhat to their surprise, tha Vermonters were
not ordered to take part, and enjoyed the rather rare oppor-
tunity of seeing others do the fighting.'" On the 20th the
brigade, lessened by the departure of 220 officers and men
of the Second regiment, whose time, had expired, was in the
front line all day, in full sight of the spires of Petersburg,
two miles away, and at times under artillery fire from the
front and from Confederate batteries on the right across the
river ; only one Vermonter, however, was killed and but three
or four wounded.
THE AFFAIR AT THE WELDON RAILROAD.
The Union assaults had thus far been directed against
the lines on the east and southeast of Petersburg. Relin-
quishing his efforts to carry these, Lieut. General Grant
now intrenched his position in front of them, and began ex-
tending his lines to envelop Petersburg on the south and
cut the railroads entering the city from the south and south-
west, which were the main arteries of communication and
supply between the Confederate capital and the Southern
States.
Among the movements to this end the Sixth corps was,
on the evening of the 21st, relieved by the Eighteenth corps,
1 " Here near by us, is the Vermont brigade, General L. A. Grant, in
reserve. An officer near me remarks that it is the first time he ever knew
that brigade to be in reserve." — Army Correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune.
This was the first Battle of Petersburg, included in Adjutant General
Washburn's official lists of battles in which the regiments of the First
Vermont brigade took part.
474 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAK.
and, moving at midnight, marched round to the west, halt-
ing during the forenoon of the next day near the Williams
House, beyond the Jerusalem Plank Boad, to which road the
Union lines had already been extended. General Wright's-
orders were to move on the next day some two miles, to the
Weldon railroad, running south from Petersburg, seize it and
intrench his position, while the Second corps, under General
Birney — General Hancock being temporarily disabled by an
outbreak of his Gettysburg wound — which had been also
moved to the left, was to support the movement and keep up
the connection between the Sixth corps and the rest of the
army. Such connection, however, was not maintained, and
during the afternoon, General A. P. Hill, who had been sent
out by General Lee to protect the Weldon road, taking ad-
vantage of a wide gap left between the right of the Sixth
corps and the left of the Second, pushed through it sud-
denly, took the line of the Second corps in reverse, captured
with small opposition most of a brigade, and went back to-
his intrenchments, taking with him 1,600 prisoners, and
leaving a force to guard the railroad.
In the operations of this day, the two corps commanders ,.
moving largely irrespective of each other, had been ordered
to take especial precautions to ensure the safety of their ex-
posed flanks, and General Wright committed to the Yer-
monters the duty of guarding the left flank of the Sixth
corps. While the mass of the corps moved forward in line
of battle, the Vermont brigade marched by the flank on the
left and rear of the corps line, and was thus in position to
repel any attack on the flank of the corps. The movements
were slow, through the thickets, and halts frequent ; and, with
his customary caution, General L. A. Grant kept the exposed
side of the brigade well covered by a skirmish line, consisting
of the Third regiment and Walker's battalion of the Eleventh.
Had General Birney used equal care for the protection of his
THE FIRST BRIGADE.
475
flank, the mortifying reverse of this day, already referred to,
would not have occurred.
The brigade was sent to the assistance of the Second
corps during the assault on the flank and rear of the latter in
the afternoon ; but as General Birney had fallen back, it was
not needed and was recalled to its former position near the
Williams house. Dispositions were at once made to retrieve
the disaster to the Second corps. At dusk that corps was
again thrown forward; and General Wright also advanced,
driving in a skirmish line of the enemy for a mile through
thick brush, the Vermont brigade still guarding the left flank
of the corps, as before. It was nearly midnight when the
Sixth corps was halted, about a mile from the Weldon road.
In this movement, the picket line, composed of the Third and
a battalion of the Eleventh, was strengthened by the Fourth
regiment. The night passed quietly on that portion of the
lines, and in the morning no enemy was visible in front.
This day, June 23d, was a very dark day in the calendar
of the brigade, being marked by the heaviest capture of its
members that ever occurred in its entire history. The men
were roused before daylight in expectation of an attack or
an advance ; but no movement took place except to perfect
the dispositions of the troops which had been posted in the
darkness of the previous night. During the forenoon, Cap-
tain Beattie, of the Third Vermont, was sent out with a
company of 90 picked men to reconnoitre in front. He
reached the Weldon railroad, unopposed, and sent back word
that he had found the road unguarded and cut the telegraph
line, and with his report he sent a piece of the telegraph wire
to prove his word. A working party of pioneers was there-
upon sent out with tools to tear up and destroy the track.
To protect them and give warning of any approach of the
enemy, General Grant was ordered to send out a picket
detail of 200 men. These were taken from Major Fleming's
battalion of the Eleventh regiment, the detail being under
476 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
command of Captain E. J. Morrill, and they reported to Lieut.
Colonel S. E. Pingree, field officer of the day, by whom they
were posted, according to instructions, in a line extending
from the right of tne skirmish line of the division, and at
a right angle with that line, out to the railroad. Captain
Beattie with his company picketed a line along the rail-
road ; and 200 cavalry men were deployed at a right angle
with these on the left, thus enclosing with the pickets a
hollow square, extending half a mile along the railroad, and
back from it to the division skirmish line. The area thus
enclosed was mainly open ground, with two or three farm
buildings nearly in the centre of it. On each side was timber,
that on the north, toward Petersburg, being a dense forest,
extending from the railroad back a mile or more, to the front
of Bickett's division, and that on the south a narrow strip
of woods. The right of the main line of the Vermont brigade
joined the left of Bicketts's division, turning at an obtuse
angle ; and the line was extended to the left of the brigade
by other troops of the second division.
General L. A. Grant was now called on by General
Wheaton, commanding the division, to furnish another detail
to support the skirmish line, and Major Fleming was sent out
with the remainder of his battalion, to which Company A.
of the Eleventh was added. The detachment was stationed
by an officer of General Wheaton's staff, about half a mile or
more in front of the brigade, at the left of the open ground.
In front of the line of the Yermont brigade was a« swell
of ground, the low crest of which commanded the entire open
area. A line of infantry along it could have swept half of
the open ground in front with musketry. A battery posted
on it, could have shelled the whole area, as well as the strip
of timber on the left, which was so narrow that persons on
the crest could see over and through it. The advantage of
occupying this crest was so obvious to General L. A. Grant
that after waiting sometime for an advance of the lines to it,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 477
which he supposed would be ordered, he took the respon-
sibility, when the operations commenced in front, of moving
forward the line of his brigade to it ; 1 requesting the com-
manders of the brigades on his right and left, to swing out
and connect with him. The one on the right did not do sot
however, and General Grant was soon ordered to bring back
his brigade to its former line. General Grant then went
in person to General Wheaton and asked him to advance
the division line, so that the crest might be occupied.*
Eeceiving no satisfactory response, Grant next went to the
corps commander, and at the former's earnest request General
Wright rode with him to the top of the crest to inspect the
situation. Some lively skirmishing was then in progress in
front and to the left, and a force of the enemy was plainly
visible, coming from the direction of the railroad, around
outside the strip of woods, and apparently aiming for the left
and rear of the Vermont detachments on the skirmish line.
General Wright decided that it was now too late to advance
the main line to the crest, and to Grant's expressions of con-
cern for the safety of his men in front General Wright replied
that if attacked they could fall back into the woods on their
right, behind Kicketts's picket line, which General Wright
supposed to be advanced nearly to the railroad. This, how-
ever, was a mistake on the part of General Wright. Ricketts's
pickets afforded no adequate protection against an attack
from that quarter, though the Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania,
of his division, which had been sent out as an additional
guard to the pioneers, made a fight at the right, and lost
83 men killed, wounded and captured. Beyond advancing
the skirmishers of the Fourth Yermont to cover Fleming's
left, which was ordered when it was plain that the latter
1 That is of the portion of the brigade left in line, full half of the brigade
being out on picket, and in support of the skirmishers in front.
8 Statement of General L. A. Grant.
478 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was in danger, little was done by the division and corps
commanders for the protection of the detachments in front ;
and this advance of the Fourth, as it proved, was simply
sending it to be captured with the rest.
The working party, before this, had torn up half a mile
of track, extending south from where they struck it, when,
about the middle of the afternoon, they became aware of the
approach of a considerable force of the enemy, which had
been sent out west of the railroad from the right of his lines
around Petersburg. The pioneers, with Captain Beattie's
sharpshooters who had moved to the left with them, and the
cavalry pickets, accordingly fell back to the left and rear,
and rejoined the corps without serious loss. The skirmishers
under Captain Morrill, on the right of the open ground,
maintained their position, expecting the enemy to attack, if at
all, from that direction. The Confederate troops approaching
from that quarter divided, a portion of them making a
demonstration in front, while the larger part pushed into
the woods on Fleming's right. He prepared to receive the
attack from his front by hastily piling a low breastwork
of rails. On his left the Fourth Term on t, as has been
stated, was deployed as skirmishers, its line extending
through a piece of woods to the narrow belt of timber, hereto-
fore described. Bursting suddenly through this, the enemy
came in on the left of the Fourth, swinging round into the
latter's rear as they advanced into the open field, and en-
veloping the line. Captain Tracy of the Fourth, one of the
most gallant young officers in the brigade, commanded the
left company, and rallied his men for a brief fight ; but he
soon fell dead, and after about a dozen men of the Fourth
had been shot down, most of the rest, seeing resistance and
flight were alike hopeless, threw down their arms. About
fifty men, however, of the Fourth, including the color-guard,
escaped through the woods, before the enemy's lines met
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 479
behind them ; and made good their retreat to the main line,
taking the colors with them.
Seeing his danger, Major Fleming now endeavored to
withdraw the skirmishers and picket reserve of his battalion
to his right and rear ; but found the woods there full of
rebels, who at once pushed out a strong line behind the
Vermonters, till it met the other Confederate line. The men
of the Eleventh were thus in turn completely cut off. They
made a brief fight against vastly superior numbers and then
surrendered. Two field officers, Majors Pratt and Fleming,
and 24 commissioned officers — eight of the Fourth and six-
teen of the Eleventh — gave up their swords, and 373 men
of the two regiments were captured.1 About the time that
this occurred in front or shortly after, a considerable force
of the enemy advanced on the left till it struck the skirmish
line of the corps, on its extreme left flank, there refused so
that it faced to the south. The skirmish line at this point
was held by Major Walker's battalion of the Eleventh, two
companies being deployed in front and the rest of the bat-
talion held as picket reserve. The skirmishers repulsed two
charges, from under cover of piles of rails, when the enemy
pushed in on their left, through an opening left by the fault
of the division officer of the day in charge of the skirmishers
on the left,2 who had failed to make the right of his portion
of the line connect with that held by the Yermonters. The
latter consequently were obliged to fall back in haste, and
lost an officer, Lieutenant Sherman, killed ; two officers,
Lieutenants Chase and Parker, captured, and a dozen or
twenty men, killed, wounded and missing. The skirmish line
1 The companies of the Eleventh so captured were A., F. , H., K. and
L. The men captured averaged over 50 to a company. Enough escaped,
with those in hospital or excused from duty or detailed as cooks and,
orderlies, to leave about 40 men to a company for further service.
2 A Pennsylvania officer.
480 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was soon re-established, however, and the enemy withdrew
from that portion of the front of the corps.
While Pratt and Fleming were making their short and
hopeless fight in front, the rest of the brigade were within
plain hearing of the firing and of the " rebel yell " with which
the enemy closed in on their comrades, but were not permitted
to move to their support. Instead of advancing, spades were
ordered up, and rifle-pits dug, to protect the corps front.
At dusk the Second Vermont was sent out as skirmishers
and met the skirmishers of the enemy in the edge of the
woods about six hundred yards in front. The latter retired,
and hostilities having ceased for the night, the regimental
and brigade officers counted up their losses, with heavy
hearts. At midnight the brigade was withdrawn to its former
position near the Williams house. It is easier to ask ques-
tions about such an affair as this, than to get satisfactory
answers to them ; and the officers and men of the brigade
have never understood why the swell of ground in their front
was not occupied by artillery and infantry ; why the Vermont
detachments were not withdrawn after the sharpshooters and
pioneers left the railroad; or why if needed in front they
were not supported, instead of being sacrificed without
object or gain to anybody but the enemy. It is safe to say
that if General Getty had been in command of his division
this melancholy affair would not have happened. Whoever
was chiefly responsible for it, no share of the blame can be
justly laid at the door of any Vermonter. General L. A.
Grant had no control of the detachments in front'. They were
sent out and posted under orders and by aids from the divi-
sion head-quarters. He was anxious about them ; and if his
suggestions and earnest requests had been regarded, they
would not have been surprised and surrounded. Lieut.
Colonel Pingree, as division officer of the day, had a very long
and difficult picket line to superintend, and obeyed the orders
given him with all possible fidelity. He of course had
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 481
nothing to do with the pickets of Eickett's division, and was
not responsible for the arrangement which permitted the
enemy to fill the woods on the right and cut off the
retreat of the Vermonters. To his " coolness, bravery, and
almost superhuman efforts " his brigade commander alludes,
in his report, in terms of very high praise. Majors Pratt and
Fleming obeyed their orders and fought as long as resistance
was of any use.
The aggregate loss of the brigade in this affair of the
Weldon Road was 459, as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total.
Second Vermont Regiment, 0101
Third " " 1 1 02
Fourth " " 3 11 139 153
Fifth " " 0 0 11
Sixth " 0 1 0 1
Eleventh " " 9 31 261 301
Totals, 13 45 401 459
Of the wounded men three of the Fourth and 11 of the
Eleventh died of their wounds. A sad sequel must be added
to this disastrous episode. Of the 401 men thus captured,
over one half died within six months after their capture, a
few in Confederate hospitals, but most of them in the prison
pens of Andersonville and Columbia, S. C. The names of
two hundred and thirty -two Vermonters, most of them strong
and vigorous men when taken that day, who thus died by a
lingering death in the hands of the enemy, are elsewhere
given in the pages of this history. A number who lived to
be exchanged, came home mere wrecks of men and died soon
after, and it is probably no exaggeration to say that 70 per
cent of the men so captured died in prison or from the results
of their captivity. The officers as a rule fared better.
Several escaped. One, Captain Morrill, of the Eleventh, was
fired on while attempting to escape from his captors, and
died of his wounds so received. Another, Lieutenant Parker
31
482 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of the same regiment, escaped from prison, to die by the
teeth of southern blood-hounds, set upon him by his pur-
suers. Of the rest, some were placed under the fire of the
Union guns, at Charleston, S. C. Some came home in sadly
shattered health.
The southerners have been more sensitive to the charge
of inhuman treatment of their prisoners, than to any other
brought against them, and southern writers and statesmen
have written many pages and uttered many words to refute
it; but no statements or sophistries can wipe out or gloss
over the stain of such facts as these.
The brigade remained in the works near the "Williams
house, for two weeks, with the exception of a single short
expedition. At noon of the 29th, General Meade learned
that General Wilson, who with a column of 5,500 cavalry '
had been out for ten da}rs on a raid against the Danville and
Lynchburgh Railroad, sixty miles of which he had destroyed,
was on his way back and had been intercepted at Eeams's
Station, ten miles south of Petersburg, by a strong force of
Confederate cavalry and infantry. The Sixth corps was
accordingly drawn out of the lines and sent to Eeams's
Station to open a passage for Wilson. The brigade started
at two o'clock of the 29th, leading the advance of the corps.
Arriving within half a mile of the station at six o'clock, the
Third Vermont was deployed as skirmishers, and engaged
and drove from the field the skirmish line of the enemy,
which was covering the retirement of the Confederate
infantry, consisting of two brigades of Mahone's division.
During the forenoon Wilson had been surrounded at that
point by W. F. Lee's and Wade Hampton's cavalry and
Mahone's infantry, and after a disastrous fight in which he
suffered heavy loss of men and guns, had retreated to the
south. The enemy, having made Wilson all the trouble they
1 Of which the First Vermont Cavalry was a part.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 483
could, did not stop to see the Sixth corps, and beyond the
slight skirmish referred to there was no fighting done by
the corps. The Vermont brigade bivouacked at Eeams's
Station that night, tore up a good piece of the railroad the
next day, and then returned with the corps to the lines in
front of Petersburg. "Wilson made a detour to the south and
east, and came in two days later.
The Vermont brigade was now about to leave the Army
of the Potomac for the first time, and to enter on a campaign
of peculiar interest and importance. It was first to aid in
.repulsing the last rebel demonstration against Washington ;
and then, for four months, to march and fight and conquer
under a new commander. On many bloody fields it had
made a reputation for tenacity and reliability in emergencies,
second certainly to that of no other brigade in the army. It
was now, under Sheridan, to do some hardly less severe
iighting, and in addition was to enjoy, with the consciousness
of duty done, the unwonted experience of sharing in distinct
and memorable victories.
BACK TO WASHINGTON.
While tne Army of the Potomac was, in the campaign
whose fortunes we have been following, making its last march
from the Kapidan to Kichmond, the Shenandoah Valley had
become a field of fresh interest. General Hunter had relieved
the unlucky Sigel; had defeated the Confederate General
Vaughn, and had advanced to Lynchburg, to find himself con-
fronted there by General Early, who had come with his corps
to guard that chief city of Western Virginia and important
centre and supply station for the Confederacy. Outnumbered,
and short both of ammunition and supplies, Hunter had
then withdrawn into the Kanawha Valley, leaving the Shenan-
doah Valley open to Early. The latter made use of his
opportunity to push rapidly northward into Maryland through
484 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAB.
the passage thus opened, and to threaten the National capital,,
which he hoped to find but slightly defended! Of course,
there was no little trepidation in Washington, when Early's
plan became developed, and troops were hurried thither from
various quarters ; but as many of these were green troops^
and a strong nucleus of veterans, under a capable and trusty
commander, was needed to allay apprehension and perhaps
to assure the safety of the capital, General Grant, at Presi-
dent Lincoln's request, withdrew the Sixth, corps from the
lines before Petersburg, and sent it to Washington. Ricketts's.
division, which formed nearly half of the corps, having lost
much fewer men in action than the others, was despatched
by transports to Baltimore, and reported on the 8th of July,
to General Lew Wallace, commanding the department. The
latter, with three or four thousand undisciplined troops, had
moved out from Baltimore and thrown himself between Early
and Washington, at the point, five miles south of Frederick,
Md., where the Baltimore and Ohio railroad crosses the
Monocacy River. Here, on the 9th of July, the battle of the
Monocacy was fought, in which General Wallace was attacked
and defeated by Early, General Eicketts severely wounded,
and 1,500 men of his division killed, wounded and captured.
This battle, to be hereafter described in connection with
the history of the Tenth Vermont regiment, delayed Early's
advance on Washington for two days, which was just the
time needed to get the rest of the corps there. The order
for them to move came late in the evening of the 9th, and
within two hours they were on the way to City Point. The
long drought of that summer, which lasted forty-seven days
from the 3d of June, had set in, and the roads were beds of
dust, ankle deep ; but the march was accomplished at a rapid
rate, the fourteen miles being made between midnight and
six A. M., and with much less discomfort under the stars than
it would have been under the July sun. Next day, under the
superintendence of Colonel and A. Q. M. P. P. Pitkin, now
THE FIEST BRIGADE. 485
in charge of the land and water transportation of the Army
of the Potomac, the two divisions took transports for Wash-
ington, and by noon the brigade, with the exception of the
Eleventh regiment, which did not embark till five p. M., was
steaming down the James. The voyage down the river and
up the Potomac, past Harrison's Landing, Newport News,
Fortress Monroe, Belle Plain and Acquia Creek, and other
familiar points, was a rest and relief to the men, who were
weary of digging and living in rifle-pits ; and they entered
on their third campaign in Maryland in excellent condition
of mind and body. Before entering on the record of the.
campaign it will be well to note some of the recent changes
in the personnel of the brigade.
The older regiments of the brigade now averaged less
than 400 muskets apiece, present for duty, and the Eleventh
about 950. The vacancies in the roster of officers made by
the slaughter in the Wilderness, had been partially filled by
promotions. The Second regiment was now commanded
by Lieut. Colonel A. S. Tracy ; the Third, by Colonel T. O.
Seaver; the Fourth, by Colonel George P. Foster; the Fifth,
by Captain Eugene A. Hamilton, Lieut. Colonel Lewis
being still disabled and no field officers having been ap-
pointed to take the place of those lost ; the Sixth, by Lieut.
Colonel O. A. Hale ; and the Eleventh, by Lieut. Colonel
George E. Chamberlain, Colonel Warner being on duty in
the defences of Washington. The two battalions of the
Eleventh — the uncaptured fractions of Major Fleming's bat-
talion having been consolidated with the other two bat-
talions— were commanded by Major Charles Hunsdon and
Major Aldace F. Walker.
The brigade, reporting present for duty 2,600 officers
and men, was still commanded by General L. A. Grant;
and General Getty, having recovered sufficiently from his
wound to take the field, was again in command of the
division, much to the satisfaction of the troops thereof.
486 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
General Getty and his staff preceded the division in a
small steamer, and were the first of the corps to land at
Washington. It was an anxious time in Washington, and
President Lincoln, looking pale and careworn, and Secretary
Stanton, were standing on the wharf as they landed. " What
troops does this steamer bring ?" asked Mr. Lincoln, of one
of the first men who stepped on shore, who happened to be
Surgeon Allen of the Fourth Vermont, at that time medical
director of the division. "It brings Major General Getty and
his staff, but no troops," was his reply. The careworn
president turned away with evident disappointment, saying:
"I do not care to see any major generals : I came here to see
the Vermont brigade" l
The two divisions reached Washington during the even-
ing of the llth, and landed next morning. Mr Lincoln was
again on hand to witness the disembarkation, breaking his
fast meanwhile on a piece of hard tack, which he had begged
from a soldier, and evidently much relieved by the arrival of
the corps. All Washington, save the few sympathizers with
the rebellion, shared this feeling. Early, who marched
straight for Washington, after the battle of the Monocacy^
was then but five miles from the capitol and in plain sight of
its dome, and the sound of his cannon, in his reconnoissances
and skirmishing in front of the forts during the day previous,
had filled the citizens with the utmost consternation. His
numbers, at first underestimated, were now greatly exag-
gerated ; and it was believed in the city that his army num-
bered 30,000 or 40,000 men. The defences north of the
city had been hurriedly manned with a few regiments of
hundred-day troops, called out by the President for the
emergency, together with a few companies of heavy artillery,
some detachments from the invalid corps, and a battalion or
two of government clerks and laborers, hastily organized and
1 Statement of Surgeon S. J. Allen.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 487
armed for the occasion. Little reliance, however, was placed
upon them, and till the Sixth corps arrived the city was in a
state of mind little short of absolute panic. As the column
of bronzed and sturdy veterans marched up Seventh Street,,
with the easy swing of old campaigners, they had no reason
to doubt that they were welcome. The sidewalks were
thronged with people, who as their eyes fell on the Greek
cross, shouted : "It is the old Sixth corps!" "Hurrah for the
men who stormed Marye's Heights!" "We are all right
now!" Some ran along the lines with buckets of ice water,
for the morning was sultry, while others handed newspapers
and eatables into the column. The color came back to the
white lips which had been whispering: "The foe! they
come!" — and confidence that the danger was already over
replaced the terror of the day and night previous.
The corps had reached Washington not an hour too soon.
It moved out on the Eockville pike, to the sound of the
cannon of Early, who had, as he says in his "Memoir,"
determined to attack the defences of Washington that morn-
ing and was then examining the works in preparation for the
assault. He had halted the afternoon previous in front of
Fort Stevens — a strong bastioned work on the Seventh Street
pike — with 10,000 or 12,000 men and fifty guns. His men,
he says, were tired with hard marching, and he took time
to reconnoitre. His skirmish line, composed of troops of
Eode's division, was about 500 yards from the fort, and his
sharpshooters filled the Eives house and the house of Mrs.
Lay, on the right and left of the turnpike leading to Silver
Spring and Eockville. A portion of Wheaton's brigade,
which was the first to reach the ground, was deployed as
skirmishers in front of the works. On the arrival of the
Vermont brigade, the Second and Third regiments were
posted in rifle-pits to the left of the fort, and the rest of the
brigade, with other portions of the corps, were massed in a
piece of woods west of Fort Stevens. The fort, and two or
488 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
three others near it, had been built in good part by the
Eleventh Vermont, and having been stationed for over a
year in them, as an artillery regiment, its officers and men
were familiar with the range of every gun and would have
been glad to show the raw troops how to use the artillery they
were awkwardly handling ; but the Yermonters were held to
take part in the general assault which was contemplated by
the generals, half a dozen or more of whpm, including
General Halleck, General McCook, General Meigs, General
Wright and the division commanders, were on the ground.
Before attacking, however, General Wright thought best to
send out a brigade, to develop Early's position and relieve
the Union line from the enemy's sharpshooters, whose bullets
were flying altogether too thickly around the forts. While
arrangements for this advance were in progress, a company
of 80 men, selected for their skill as marksmen, was sent out
under command of Captain A. M. Beattie, of the Third Ver-
mont, to the skirmish line, to try conclusions with the
enemy's sharpshooters. They soon found active employment,
drove the rebels from a house with some loss, one Ver-
monter being killed and half a dozen wounded in the opera-
tion, and otherwise rendered excellent service. In the
afternoon the skirmish line was still further strengthened by
50 picked men of the Sixth Vermont. These troops all par-
ticipated in the advance later in the day.
Shortly after four o'clock, the Third brigade, Colonel
BidweLL's, of Getty's division, filed out into the road in front
of Fort Stevens and deployed in two lines.1 The forts opened
a vigorous fire with their heavy guns to clear the way, and
then Bidwell's brigade moved out steadily. Early had been
strengthening his skirmish line with both infantry and artil-
1 " The pseudo-soldiers who filled the trenches around the fort, were
astonished at the temerity displayed by these war-worn veterans in going
out before the breastworks, and benevolently volunteered most earnest
words of caution."— Major A. F. Walker.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 489
lery, and they opened a sharp fire on the advancing lines.
The latter advanced up a slight acclivity to the Hives house,
from which the Confederate skirmishers were speedily driven,
and then to a crest beyond, where they encountered the sup-
ports of the enemy's skirmish line. These had thrown up a
breastwork of rails and earth, and made a stout resistance,
under which every regimental commander of Bidwell's brig-
ade fell killed or wounded. But the advance of the latter
could not be stopped. They swept the crest in the hand-
somest manner, driving back Early 's lines for a mile, when,
having accomplished all that was expected of them, they were
halted, and were relieved at sundown by the Yermont brigade,
which picketed the front for the night. The Union loss in
this affair was 280. Early left 30 dead on the field, and 70
men, too seriously wounded to be moved, at the house of the
elder Blair, at Silver Spring, where Generals Early and
Breckenridge had their headquarters. Early probably lost
as many men as the Sixth corps. It was on the whole a
sharp and well conducted fight, and a portion of it took place
in the presence of a more distinguished group of spectators
than witnessed any other action of the war. President and
Mrs. Lincoln, Secretary Stanton and other members of the
cabinet, and several ladies, came out to Fort Stevens during
the afternoon, to see some actual fighting; and Mr. Lincoln
remained during the action, upon the invitation of General
Wright, which the latter much repented having given, when
to his surprise it was accepted by the President . Mr. Lin-
coln, with a torn coat sleeve, persisted in standing on. the
parapet of Fort Stevens, by the side of General Wright, in
spite of the earnest remonstrances of the latter and the
entreaties of Mrs. Lincoln, till an officer was wounded within
three feet of him by a rebel bullet, when he consented to
step down to the banquette, still looking over the parapet
till the enemy was driven out of sight. Within the fort
crouched cabinet officers and prominent civilians, breathless
490 VEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
with excitement, while in the hostile camp beyond stood
General Breckenridge, of Kentucky, who four years before,
as vice-president of the United States, occupied the chair of
the Senate, in the building whose lofty dome now rose white
before him, but of which he was to have no nearer view.
The fact of the presence of the veterans of the Sixth
corps, indicated to General Early by this affair, was enough
for him; and that night he fell back through Rockville,
leaving in flames the elegant house of Postmaster General
Montgomery Blair, which stood near his camp. He marched
all night to the northwest toward the fords of the Potomac,
and halted in the morning near Darnestown, Md., eighteen
miles away.
At noon of that day, Getty's and Russell's divisions of
the Sixth corps started in pursuit, followed by Emory's-
division of the Nineteenth corps, which had just arrived at
Washington, all under command of General Wright. The
Vermont brigade, being on the picket line, started last of the
corps, in the latter part of the afternoon. The men were
already weary with a night and day of picket duty ; the
roads were narrow and obstructed with mired army trains ;
and the night march was a most confused and exhausting one^
The brigade, nevertheless, had made about twenty miles when
it halted for breakfast next morning. After a short hour's
rest it started again — being now in the lead of the division,
under the system of rotation in marching which placed the
brigade which brought up the rear one day in advance on the
next — and during the afternoon reached Poolesville, thirty
miles from Washington, having marched, by the roads traveled,
about forty miles in twenty-four hours. The last few miles of
the march were enlivened by the sounds of skirmishing from
White's Ford, in front, where Early was crossing the Poto-
mac, and where a section of artillery attached to Lowell's cav-
alry, was firing on his rear guard. Here the brigade lay with
the corps for a night and a day, during which nothing more
THE FIEST BRIGADE. 491
exciting occurred than the hanging of a spy, which took
place near the corps headquarters at one o'clock in the
morning.
At daylight on the 16th, the corps crossed into Virginia,
fording the Potomac, which here ran with a strong current
three feet deep, at White's Ford and at Conrad's Ferry, near
the scene of the famous Union disaster of Ball's Bluff', early
in the war,1 and moved on through Leesburg to the Catoctin
mountains. Here the members of the Third Vermont regi-
ment whose three years' term had expired, and who had not
re-enlisted, took their leave for home. Their departure took
from the brigade those sterling officers, Colonel T. O. Seaver
and Lieut. Colonel S. E. Pingree, unsurpassed in every
quality of the true soldier; Major Nelson, a worthy offi-
cer ; and 15 line officers arid 150 men who had fought with
the brigade in every action and battle from Lee's Mill
to Petersburg. The remainder of the regiment was con-
solidated into a battalion of six companies, under Captain
(soon to be made major) Floyd, retaining its title of the Third
Vermont.
On the 18th of July, the corps, now entire, having been
joined by Ricketts's division, advanced to the Blue Ridge, and
crossed it on the heels of Early, by Snicker's gap. Here the
Vermonters had their first view of the Shenandoah Valley
with which, in the three months following, they became
tolerably well acquainted. This day General Crook, with
two fragmentary divisions of General Hunter's army, which
had moved up the Valley to aid in intercepting Early 's
: " Brigades were crossing in several places for a mile up and down the
river. Every one greeted the unusual sensation of the slippery rocks and
the gurgling water with shouts and laughter. The burdened men were
here and there overthrown by the swift current, and occasionally one
would slip from a staggering horse and be buried for an instant in the
stream, to the amusement of all but the unfortunate. In such a gleeful
humor we re-entered Virginia and laid ourselves out to dry upon her
sacred soil." — Major A. F. Walker.
492 YEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
retreat, reached the west bank of the Shenandoah river, at
Snicker's Ferry, and had a fight with Early's rear guard, in
which the former lost 400 men killed and wounded. The
head of the column of the Sixth corps, under Ricketts,
reached the eastern bank of the river before this action was
fairly over, but not in time to take part except by firing
across the river with artillery. Early barely slipped through
between the columns of Crook and Wright before they
united, and made good his retreat toward Strasburg.
Supposing that Early was on his way back to Kichmond,
and understanding that the object of his own expedition was
accomplished, General Wright now decided to return to
Washington. The corps rested on the 20th.1 The next day it
faced about, re-forded the Shenandoah, and with soaked
shoes and blistered feet, made the toilsome ascent of the Blue
Ridge. Crossing the crest of Snicker's Gap at midnight,
Getty's division overhauled and then passed the division of
the Nineteenth corps which had preceded it on the road and
was doing its best ; pushed on in the darkness in a forced
march across the valley, with brief halts for coffee ; re-crossed
the Catoctin ridge in the morning ; and kept on without
halt to Leesburg. Striking here the turnpike, the corps
moved on through Drainsville. July 23d, it marched through
Lewinsville, past Camp Griffin — where the Vermont brigade
spent its first winter — crossed Chain Bridge, and went into
camp near Tenally town, in the northern defences of Washing-
ton. General Wright had notified General Halleck, on the
21st, that "two days' easy march" would bring his command
back to Washington. The command found the march any-
thing but "easy." The Vermont brigade had done some
hard marching before this ; but all who shared the experience
of this ten days, agreed that it was the hardest continuous
marching in its history ; and they did not see that they had
1 "That day everybody robbed a beehive, and hard tack was eaten
with honey."— Major Walker.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 493
anything to show for it. The pursuit of Early had been a
failure; and the hurried return, at a rate which caused
hundreds of good soldiers of the two corps to fall out on the
way, to be captured by the guerrillas and sent to Richmond — •
though explained by General Wright's desire to get back to
Grant by the time Early should rejoin Lee — might well have
been omitted altogether. For General Early had not returned
to Richmond.
The corps spent three days at Tenallytown, resting,
receiving new shoes and clothing, and waiting for orders,
expected hourly, to return to the Army of the Potomac.
But when orders came they directed the corps to move in
quite a different direction. When General Early learned
that the Sixth corps had left the valley, leaving only Crook's
inferior force of infantry and cavalry a few miles to the
north of him, he at once turned back from Strasburg, struck
and defeated Crook at Kernstown, and followed him till he
escaped into Maryland. Having thus secured undisputed
possession of the valley, Early proceeded to break up the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and despatched his cavalry,
under "the robber " McCausland, into Maryland and Penn-
sylvania, to burn towns, levy contributions of money, and
plunder non-combatants. When the news of Crook's defeat
reached Washington, the Sixth corps was at once hurriedly
despatched to the assistance of Hunter and Crook, who were
now guarding the South Mountain gaps in Maryland. The
corps moved, on the 26th, through Rockville to the north,
forded the Monocacy on the 28th, and passed through Fred-
erick to Jefferson, Md., beyond the South Mountain.
On the 29th, it marched by Sandy Hook along the
Potomac and between the mountains to Harper's Ferry;
crossed the river on a long ponton bridge ; climbed Bolivar
Heights; and arrived at evening, footsore and weary, at Hall-
town, four miles south of Harper's Ferry. The corps had
marched seventy-five miles in two clays and twenty hours.
494 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Here Hunter and Wright united their forces under command
of the former. This day McCausland started on his raid to
Chambersburg, Pa., Early covering his departure by a
cavalry expedition to Hagerstown, Md. The news that the
enemy was again north of the Potomac, caused fresh per-
turbation in Washington ; and brought orders from General
Halleck to Hunter, to move all his forces into Maryland to
repel the invasion. Hunter replied that Wright's troops were
too much fatigued and scattered to move at once; but
Halleck made his order peremptory,1 and the Sixth corps
accordingly moved back across the Potomac. It was a
sultry day, as the forces poured into the hot, dusty basin of
Harper's Ferry; the heat was overpowering, and men and
beasts stood bathed in sweat and panting for breath, for
hours, waiting for their turn to cross the narrow bridge.
Getty's division crossed in the night, and though on foot all
night, made barely five miles of progress in the jam of men,
horses, guns and wagons. The "Sabbath day's journey," of
the next day, however, exceeded considerably the scriptural
limit, for it was one of twenty miles. The heat was frightful ;
the air a cloud of blinding dust ; the pace rapid, and the
amount of straggling beyond parallel. Thousands fell out of
the ranks and hundreds sank under sunstroke.* Horses gave
out as well as men, and numbers were left by their riders
along the road. If a horse revived after a few hours rest, it
was at once rigged with a hempen bridle and mounted by
some footsore soldier, and ridden bareback till it sank
again. Towards night, of the hardest day in the history of
the brigade, the mounted officers and regimental colors,
1 "Wright's and Crook's forces should immediately move towards
Emmettsburg— they must make a night march." — Despatch of General
Halleck to Hunter.
2 "Our infantry is suffering dreadfully. Six men fell dead yesterday
in one of our smallest brigades." — Hunter to Halleck.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 495
accompanied by a corporal's guard of the strongest men of
their respective regiments, marched into Frederick City.
The corps had nominally reached that point. In reality it
was strung out for fifteen or twenty miles to the rear —
thousands of the men lying exhausted in the woods, and
other thousands dragging themselves slowly along the road,
faint for want of food and water and barely able to carry
their muskets. The march cost the corps as much as a sharp
engagement, in losses of men who died of sunstroke or broke
down permanently. And it was absolutely needless; for
Hunter's infantry were no obstruction to McCausland's
cavalry ; and Early's infantry were all south of the Potomac.
It was a piece of General Halleck's peculiar strategy.
The corps halted at Frederick a day and night, during
which most of the stragglers came in, and the men got some
rest; and on the 3d of August it moved five miles to the
south to the little village of Buckeystown on the Monocacy.
Here the troops camped along the hillsides of a pleasant
valley ; and lounging in the shade, and bathing in the river,
gained rest and strength and almost forgot their recent trials.
During this week of comparative quiet, Early's cavalry
were foraging and swapping lame horses for better ones taken
from the farmers in Pennsylvania and Maryland. On the
30th of July, McCausland had reached Chambersburg, Pa.,
fifteen miles north of the Maryland line, demanded $500,000
in currency or $100,000 in gold from the inhabitants, on pen-
alty of having their town burned ; and, the money not being
produced — as it could not be, for there was no gold and less
than $50,000 in currency in the town — applied the torch and
laid in ashes a thriving place of 3,000 unarmed inhabitants,
without even so much as notice to them to remove their sick
and bed-ridden inmates. Then, having allowed his soldiers to
plunder the citizens of their money and valuables to the
amount of uncounted thousands, he retired laden with
booty. Eeturning into Maryland and down the south branch
496 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
•
of the Potomac, lie was struck at Moorefield, West Virginia,
by General Averell, who had followed him up closely with
two brigades of cavalry, and came to serious grief, losing
all his artillery, 400 horses, 420 men captured, including 38
officers, and most of his wagons. " This affair," says General
Early in his memoir, "had a very damaging effect upon my
cavalry for the rest of the campaign." ' This was the last
Confederate raid into Maryland ; but General Early still re-
mained in the lower Shenandoah Valley, with an army of
nearly 20,000 men — a standing menace to the North and to
the national capital.
About this time both President Lincoln and Lieut.
General Grant reached the distinct conclusion that things
were not going as well as they might in the Shenandoah
Valley. The latter was detained in person at Petersburg by
some important matters, among which were the operations
attending the explosion of the famous mine ; but he saw that
there must be a change of generalship and consequently of
commander, in the Valley. Having sent up from the Army
of the Potomac the remainder of the Nineteenth corps and
a division of cavalry, to reinforce Hunter's army, on the 1st
of August he sent a man who was in himself a stronger rein-
forcement than an army corps. This was an officer at this time
little known to the army or to the country at large. A native
of Ohio, now in his thirty-fourth year ; a graduate of West
Point ; a colonel of a Michigan cavalry regiment early in the
war; then a brigadier general, commanding a division of
infantry at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Chattanooga,
1 McCausland told Rev. Mr. Edwards, of Hagerstown, Md., that he
was "from hell," and many inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Maryland
thought he told the truth. General Early, however, assumed the sole
responsibility for the burning of Chambersburg ; and has repeatedly, since
the close of the war, justified the act, as one of just retaliation for the
unauthorized burning by Union soldiers or stragglers, of half a dozen
private residences of prominent members of the Confederate Congress, in
various portions of the field of war.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 497
he had attracted the notice of Ganeral Grant both by his
fighting qualities and executive ability. He had been made
a major general, brought to the East, and placed by Lieut.
General Grant in command of the cavalry corps of the Army
of the Potomac. Under him the cavalry arm of the army
had been doing both hard riding and hard fighting. His
capacity for still higher command remained to be seen; but
it is plain that General Grant did not doubt it, for he sent
him to Washington, telegraphing at the same time to General
Halleck : " I want Sheridan put in command of all the troops
in the field, with instructions to put himself south of the
enemy, and to follow him to the death. Wherever the enemy
goes let our troops go also." General Halleck, however, had
no thought of relinquishing the direction of the campaign,
and proposed to confine Sheridan to the command of the
cavalry. On the 4th of August, President Lincoln tele-
graphed General Grant: "Look over the despatches you
have received from here, and discover, if you can, that there
is any idea in the head of any one here of putting our army
south of the enemy, or of following him to the death in any
direction. * * It will never be done unless you watch it,
and force it." In two hours from the receipt of this despatch
General Grant started for Washington. The next day, at
evening, he appeared at General Hunter's headquarters near
Monocacy Station. His first question to Hunter, was,
"Where is the enemy?" Hunter replied that he did not
know, adding that he had been so ordered hither and thither
by despatches from Washington, that he had been unable to
determine the position of the rebels, much less to pursue
them. General Grant simply said: "Zwill find out where
the enemy is ;" 1 and he put the army in motion that night for
the Yalley of Virginia. General Sheridan joined Grant and
Hunter the next day ; and the next, General Hunter relin-
1 General Badeau.
32
498 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
quished to the junior general the command of the army,
which the latter made famous as the " Army of the Shenan-
doah."
It was on the 7th of August that General Philip H.
Sheridan assumed command of all the forces in Washington,
Maryland and West Virginia, with his headquarters at Hall-
town, Va. The men of his new command did not give him an
enthusiastic welcome, for, as one of them said, "they knew
little of his services except through the newspapers, and in
reading of them made the usual cavalry allowances." But all
who did know him, had no fears for him ; 1 and the army began
to like him as soon as they made his acquaintance. Though
he was not an imposing figure at first glance, a second look
found a good many striking points about him. His short,
compact frame and large chest betokened great strength and
endurance. His bright black eyes, now twinkling with humor
and then lighting with intense expression, lost sight of nothing
around him. His large and closely shorn head was full of
character. His words, gesture, and action showed him to be
thoroughly in earnest. His whole manner betokened con-
fidence in himself, while it was as free as possible from self-
conceit ; and his simple bearing and genial ways soon made
every soldier his friend. The troops noticed at the start
that their new general was visible to his command. He did
not follow the column but rode at its side, taking the dust
with his men, watching details of the march, and bringing
order and progress out of confusion, when the inevitable
blockades of the roads by the trains occurred, with an aptness
which reminded the men of the Sixth corps of Sedgwick.
When the column halted, two tents and two flies furnished
the modest shelter allotted to the headquarters of the army ;
1 General Sherman, who was then investing Atlanta, telegraphed
General Grant that day: " I am glad you have given General Sheridan
command of the forces to defend Washington. He will worry Early to
death."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 499
— something of a contrast with the good old McClellan days,
when the headquarters tents and baggage filled sixty six-mule
wagons.
In the movement of the army across the Potomac, the
Sixth corps was brought by railroad from Monocacy Junc-
tion; and as it once more passed through Harper's Ferry
the men adopted for it the title of "Harper's Weekly."
CHAPTEK XVIII.
THE CAMPAIGN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
(Jnder Sheridan in the Valley — Strength and situation of the opposing
armies — Movement to the South — Early reinforced — Sheridan retires
down the Valley — Engagement at Charlestown— The Vermont brigade
holds the skirmish line against a Confederate division — Casualties in
the Vermont regiments — Reconnoisance to Gilbert's Ford — Visit from
General Grant — The battle of Winchester or the Opequon — Part of
the Vermont brigade — The grand charge — Losses of the brigade —
Battle of Fisher's Hill— Colonel Warner carries Flint's Hill— Crook'a
flank movement— Charge of Getty's and Ricketts's divisions, and flight
of Early — Three weeks of marching and manoeuvring — The Sixth
corps starts for Washington but returns to Cedar Creek — Battle of
Cedar Creek — The surprise in the morning— Gallant stand of Colonel
Thomas and the Eighth Vermont — Action of the Tenth Vermont —
The part of Getty's division and the Vermont brigade — Arrival of
Sheridan — The grand advance of the Sixth and Nineteenth corps, and
final charge of the cavalry — Casualties of the Vermont brigade — Close
of the campaign — Voting for President — A month of rest at Kernstown
— Departure from the Valley.
On the 9th of August, General Sheridan had concentrated
about Halltown and within five miles of Harper's Ferry, the
most effective Union army that had ever been assembled in
the Valley. It consisted of the Sixth corps, reduced to less
than 12,000 by its hard campaigning; a division of the
Nineteenth corps, to which another division of that corps
was soon added ; two divisions of Crook's army of West Vir-
ginia ; and a cavalry corps of about 8,000 men. These gave
him, with his artilbry, 36,000 men reported present for duty;
and, after allowing for the various details for hospital
attendants, teamsters, train-guards, <fec., which always reduce
by from ten to fifteen per cent the aggregate present for
duty, an army of about 30,000 men actually under arms.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 501
General Early's headquarters at this time were at Bunker
Hill, Va., ten miles west of Halltown. He had an army of
some 20,000 men, to which was added a week later Kershaw's
division of infantry, Fitz Lee's division of cavalry, and a bat-
talion of artillery, all under General Anderson, who had suc-
ceeded to the command of Longstreet's old corps.
Three days after assuming command of the Army of the
Shenandoah, General Sheridan put it in motion to the
south. As Early was awaiting his reinforcements and was
not ready to fight, he withdrew up the valley, the two armies
moving on nearly parallel lines, Sheridan on the east side
of the valley, and Early along the west side. For three
days the two armies thus moved to the southwest, till on
the 13th, Early made a stand at the strong position of
Fisher's Hill, two miles south of Strasburg. Here he
intrenched his lines, expecting if attacked to be able to hold
his own till Anderson, who was coming through Chester Gap,
and was not far away, should join him, when he intended to
take the offensive.
In this movement up the valley the Sixth corps marched
the first day to Clifton, a large plantation near Berryville;
the next to Newtown ; and the next to Cedar Creek. Though
the weather was hot and the marches were pretty long and
rapid, they were made with comparatively slight fatigue. The
troops marched straight across the country through the fields
and open forests, the roads being left to the army trains.
The infantry halted for ten minutes in every hour. The turf
was a relief to their tired feet, and the comparative freedom
from dust, often the greatest torment of the soldier, afforded
a grateful contrast to most of their previous marching in
Maryland and Eastern Virginia.
At Cedar Creek, Sheridan's advance came upon Early's,
and there was some desultory skirmishing. Next morning
the enemy had retired, and Sheridan moved forward to Stras-
burg ; but finding Early very strongly posted, he withdrew
502 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the same day to Cedar Creek. A little south of this, the
Massanutten Mountains, rising abruptly, divide the valley
southward into two — the Upper Shenandoah and the Luray
Valley. Strasburg lies at the entrance of the Upper Shenan-
doah, and in front of it to the southwest, rises the com-
manding eminence of Fisher's Hill, on the sides of which
Early had planted his batteries. Ten miles to the southeast
lies Front Royal, at the entrance of the Luray Valley.
The 14th and 15th were occupied by Sheridan in recon-
noitring ; and in some skirmishing on the latter day, two men
of the Second Vermont were wounded.
By the 16th, General Sheridan had decided that Cedar
Creek was no position for him in the present condition of
affairs. The ten days' rations with which he started were
more than half gone. Mosby, with his irregular cavalry,
was at work in his rear and had captured a train of 75 wagons
loaded with supplies, at Berryville. His position was an
exposed one. Moreover an engagement that day at Front
Royal, where Kershaw attacked the cavalry which Sheri-
dan had sent thither, disclosed the fact that Early's rein-
forcements, of the departure of which from Petersburg
General Grant had notified Sheridan, had arrived on his
flank. These additions gave Early a superiority of numbers
as well as advantage of position. Sheridan would doubt-
less have been in serious danger had he remained there
another day. That night, however, he withdrew to Win-
chester, and next day, leaving Torbert with some cavalry
and Penrose's New Jersey brigade of the Sixth corps at
Winchester, to hold Early in check, he pushed on to a posi-
tion near Berryville, which he had before selected as a good
one to hold. Torbert and Penrose were attacked by superior
numbers in the afternoon ; but held their ground till night,
when they gave way with a loss of 700 men, killed, wounded
and captured. In his retreat down the valley Sheridan
burned all the wheat and hay south of Berryville and Win-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 503
Chester, and drove off all the cattle, of course much to the
disgust of the owners and of Early, who expected to supply/
his army with them. In this retrograde movement down?
the valley, the Vermont brigade, starting with the Sixth
corps at midnight of the 17th, marched through Middletown,.
halted at Winchester for breakfast, moved on about six miles
and bivouacked on the bank of the Opequon. Starting a.gainr
early next morning it marched all the forenoon, without
stopping for b ; kf t. At noon the brigade halted near
Clifton, and the men made quick work of what remained of
their rations, which had been in short supply for three days.
Then, resuming the march, they moved on nearly to Charles-
town, halting and camping at ten p. M., about two miles
southwest of the ruined Court House and jail of the place,
made forever famous as the scene of the trial and execution
of John Brown. Here supply trains met and fed the hungry
soldiers. At this point, as above stated, Sheridan faced
about, and posted his army around Charlestown on the
southwest, while Early, who had followed close behind him,
went into his old camp at Bunker Hill, leaving Anderson's
corps at Winchester. Early remained quiet for two days?
while he and Anderson were planning a combined attack on
Sheridan. This took place on the 21st, and failed. Ander-
son's advance from Winchester was so hindered by Merritt's
and Wilson's cavalry, that he did not get within co-operating
distance of Early ; while the latter's demonstration, though
made in force with two divisions, did not fairly reach the
front of the Sixth corps, against which it was directed, but
was checked by the skirmishers.
The Vermont brigade took the main part in this skirm-
ishing, which was heavy and continued all day, and behaved
in a manner which entitled Charlestown to an honored place
in the list of the engagements of the First Vermont brigade.
504 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
ENGAGEMENT AT CHARLESTOWN, VA.
The camp of the brigade at the time was in a pleasant
grove near Welsh's, or ohe Flowing Spring,1 some two and a
half miles southwest of Charlestown. A short
August 21, 1864. . .
distance in front the picket line of the Sixth
corps ran in a large curve along the crest of one of a series
of rolling ridges. Cavalry were supposed to be guarding
the approaches. All had been quiet on the picket line for
two days ; and the troops in the various camps were prepar-
ing for the usual Sunday morning inspection, when suddenly,
at nine o'clock, sharp firing broke out on the picket line. Soon
the pickets were seen falling back across the fields, followed
by a strong skirmish line of "Johnnies." The camp of the
Vermont troops was the nearest to the picket line; and
General L. A. Grant was hurrying his regiments into line,
when General Getty rode into the camp, and directed him to
move out at once and re-establish the picket line. Nearly a
mile of this, sweeping in a semi-circle from the Winchester
turnpike round to the left of the camp of the brigade, had
been driven in. Beyond the retreating pickets the enemy's
skirmishers were numerous, and their bullets began to
whistle through and over the camps. How strongly they
were supported, or where their supports were, was not known ,
but the brigade moved out to the left of the pike, in the direc-
tion from which had come the sound of the heaviest firing,
and it proved to be the place where it could do the most
good. With scarce a moment's delay the brigade filed ou
of the woods, and formed in the open fields in front. The
Third, Fourth and Sixth regiments were deployed as skirm-
ishers in a curved line, and advanced rapidly. They were
supported by the Second, Fifth and Eleventh, each in line of
1 So called from a large spring of crystal clear water, which gushed
from a fissure in the rock at the foot of a hill on which Welch's house
stood, in volume sufficient to form a good sized brook.
THE FIRST BKIGADE. 505
battle, moving out behind them on diverging lines. The
skirmishers soon reached the foot of a hill, the slope of which
was covered by a great field of Indian corn, the tall stalks
of which almost concealed the enemy's skirmishers. Ex-
changing volleys with these at the edge of the field, the Yer-
monters pushed straight into the corn and drove the rebels
out of it and over the crest of the hill. The supporting
regiments followed eagerly. As the second battalion of the
Eleventh, which was on the left, was about to enter the corn-
field, its gallant commander, Lieut. Colonel Chamberlain,
received a bullet in the abdomen, and fell from his horse,
mortally wounded. Major Walker succeeded to the com-
mand of the battalion, and it pressed right on. The Con-
federate skirmishers were kept on the run and were followed
over the second ridge, from which the Union pickets had
been driven half an hour before. Here the older regi-
ments on the right halted, in the face of a line of the enemy.
The battalions of the Eleventh on the left, however, unaware
that their duty was confined to re-establishing the picket
line, kept on, with more zeal than discretion, and followed
their retreating opponents half a mile farther and till they
nearly ran against the battle line of Eodes's division. They
were saved from serious disaster by General Getty, who had
accompanied the brigade, had perceived the rash advance of
the left of its line, and hastening after it, halted the battalions
with some difficulty and ordered them back to the ridge, where
the rest of the brigade stood. General Getty had his horse
shot under him in this operation. As the battalions of. the
Eleventh withdrew, the enemy advanced, following them
closely and firing heavily. They fell back in good order,
however, and made good their connection with the rest of
the brigade. This was now all deployed as skirmishers,
covering a full mile of line, which ran in an irregular curve
bending out and in according to the conformation of the
ground. The enemy soon pressed upon them apparently in
506 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
much superior force, and from the shelter of the ridges,
fences and stone walls, maintained a galling fire. The
Vermonters sought similar protections, and where such were
nob available, piled rails into breastworks, or dug pits in
the sandy soil, and held their ground immovably. The
Sixth regiment held an exposed position near the centre of
the line, and suffered severely, losing both its field officers
and a number of men. Major Walker's battalion of the
Eleventh, to the left, was also for the most part without pro-
tection, except such as they could make for themselves with
rails, while the enemy in their front, behind a stone wall,,
kept up an incessant fire at short musket range.
Eight in the Union skirmish line on the left of the turn-
pike, was the fine place of Mr. John B. Packett, whose wife
was a daughter of Colonel John A. Washington, the former
owner of Mount Yernon, who had been killed in the Con-
federate service. The house, a large brick mansion, had been
guarded from injury and intrusion by the Union generals,
and the family had remained in it. Among the inmates
were several ladies in mourning, among whom was a tall
and beautiful young woman — understood to be a sister of
Mrs. Packett — who showed remarkable courage in the trying
scenes which followed. The family were urged to leave the
house and go to the camp of the Yermont brigade, when the
Union skirmishers occupied the premises ; but they refused
to do so, and took refuge in the cellar. In and around this
house some especially plucky fighting took place. The skirm-
ishers, who were men of the Eleventh Yermont, were posted
through the garden and grounds with only slight protection,
and were suffering serious loss, when General Getty came
along the line, on foot, having lost his horse, and, upon the
suggestion of Major Walker, directed him to occupy the
Packett house with sharpshooters. Major Walker at once
filled the back windows of the house with some of the best
marksmen in his command, and from this vantage ground
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 507
they began to make things unpleasant for the Confederate
skirmishers. The enemy's fire was at once largely concen-
trated upon the house. The bullets rattled thickly against
it ; but its brick walls afforded excellent shelter and the men
within returned the fire with deadly effect. This had gone
on for an hour or more, when the enemy brought up artillery
to the aid of his musketry. A section of a battery was run
to the crest of a ridge in front, and getting the range of the
house after two or three shots, the shells now began to plow
through its walls and explode within the rooms. Using the
shell holes for loopholes, and returning volleys for the cheers
which rose from the Confederate lines as the chimneys top-
pled and breaches opened in the walls, the brave men of the
Eleventh held their position, and were loudly cheered for their
pluck by all the Union troops around. Nine shells entered
the house, before they left it. One of these exploded in the
basement and sent the trembling inmates weeping and shriek-
ing to the rear. These were guided to the camp of the brigade
and received all possible protection from the weapons of
their friends, and reached Charlestown uninjured. The house
was twice set on fire by the shells, and extinguished by the
Yermonters. At last, after holding it for an hour, and after
several men had been killed and wounded by fragments of a
shell, which exploded in one of the upper rooms,1 Major
Walker withdrew his men from the house, to a less exposed
position. The ground regained by the Vermont brigade was
held by them all day against the strong force in their front.
Early, who was waiting for Anderson to come up before
making a general assault, confined his operations to pressing
the Union skirmish line at various points ; but it was not a
light pressure. Sheridan calls the skirmishing "sharp and
obstinate." Early describes it as "very heavy." It was
1 The shell struck and demolished a case of drawers which had been
the property of George Washington.
508 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
so, and it lasted till nightfall. Two mules were employed
all day in carrying cartridges to the Union lines, and
5G,000 rounds of ammunition were used that day by the
Vermont regiments. The enemy's losses were not stated;
but the Vermonters who picketed the same ground a week
later found numerous graves on the ground and other
indications which satisfied them that the Confederates lost
more than they did. Eicketts's division was placed on the
left of Getty's in the course of the afternoon; and other
troops were brought up within supporting distance. By
some of these the enemy's line was felt, and found to be a
full line of battle. An episode which occurred near the close
of the day, is thus related by Major Walker: "About six
o'clock, a few of our officers were lunching on the rear
piazza of the shattered Packett house, on bread and milk
furnished by the owner, who had returned thoroughly sub-
dued, when their attention was called to a regiment from
another division passing out before the left of our line. Our
men had no disposition to follow, though taunted with
having spent the day fighting a phantom. The new comers
marched boldly on, up a somewhat steep ascent, but pre-
serving a capital front until they approached the stone wall
mentioned above, when suddenly a grey line of rebels rose
up apparently two deep along the whole extent threatened —
proving that we had fought all day a full line of battle
with artillery to boot, and had held our ground with a
skirmish line. The valiant regiment which was to show
Vermonters their folly, confronted by the unexpected appari-
tion, and saluted by a thousand rifles, fled in dismay, without
firing a gun, and we could not help greeting their discomfiture
with peals of laughter." This was the closing incident of
the day. That night, Sheridan, not liking the position
at Charlestown, withdrew his army to Halltown, five miles
back, where he intrenched himself in one of the strongest
positions in the valley. The Vermont brigade held the
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 509
line in front of Charlestown till three A. M., and till all the
rest of the army, except the cavalry videttes, had moved to
the new position. It then drew quietly out, and marching
rapidly entered the lines of Halltown after daylight. General
Sheridan superintended the withdrawal, and entered the lines
behind the Vermont brigade. Each of the regiments of the
brigade was engaged in this affair and did its duty gallantly.
The casualties were as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Died of wounds. TotaL
Second Vermont, 5 13 0 18
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth,
Eleventh
3 15 1 18
1 10 1 11
24 Id
8 31 5 39
5 27 8 32
Total, 24 100 16 124
There was more or less skirmishing along the lines in
front of Halltown during the next three days, in which the
Vermont troops had no part, and several days of comparative
quiet for the main army followed, during which Sheridan was
making cavalry reconnoisances and Early engaged in various
demonstrations, "to keep up," as he says, "the fear of an
invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania."
Not daring to undertake such an invasion, however, and
seeing that Sheridan's position was too strong to be attacked,
Early moved back to his old position at Bunker Hill on the
26th and 27th. Sheridan followed him on the 28th to within
feeling distance, taking his former position in front pf
Charlestown. As his troops marched through Charlestown,
they found no traces of the gallows where John Brown swung,
or of the grave where his body was said to lie mouldering;
but they remembered both, and the bands, as did probably
every northern band of music that ever passed there, re-
minded the rebellious citizens that his soul was still "march-
ing on."
510 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
After a sharp cavalry fight at Leetown, from which place
General Merritt drove out the enemy's cavalry, and a fight
at Smithfield, which was occupied first by Merritt, then by
two of Early's infantry divisions, and then by Eicketts's
division of the Sixth corps, Early retired to the high
ground west of the Opequon, -between Manchester and Mar-
tinsburg, and Sheridan faced him, with the Sixth corps at
Clifton, next the Nineteenth corps, now filled by the arrival
of its remaining division which had come up by way of
Snicker's Gap, and the Eighth corps at Berryville. This was
the situation on the 3d of September, and there was little
change for two weeks. The cavalry were active in recon-
noissances, and in hunting the ubiquitous Mosby, who was
a constant torment on Sheridan's rear and flank; but the
infantry had little to do, except to dig rifle-pits. On the 6th
the Vermont soldiers voted for State officers.
September 13th, Getty's division was sent out from
Clifton, with Merritt's cavalry, to Gilbert's Ford, or Edward's
Crossing, on the Opequon. The Yermont brigade led the
column, which was accompanied by Generals Sheridan and
Wright. The skirmishers of tile Third and Fourth Vermont
crossed the Opequon in the forenoon, and advanced till they
met the enemy's pickets, a short distance beyond. Early ad-
vanced two divisions of his infantry, before whom the Union
skirmishers retired to the east side of the creek. A sharp
artillery duel followed, between Cowan's battery and a rebel
battery of heavy guns, some of the shells from which, passing
over Cowan, exploded in the ranks of the Vermont brigade,
which was lying with the division, massed in the woods, a
quarter of a mile behind the battery. Several Vermonters
were wounded, among them being Lieutenant Bedell, of the
Eleventh, whose terrible wound and remarkable rescue from
death and captivity are elsewhere told, and form a tale of
surpassing interest. The division returned to its camp at
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 511
nightfall, having developed the presence of the enemy in
force.1
During these weeks of comparative inaction, General
Sheridan was waiting, before taking the offensive, for Lee to
recall the reinforcements he had sent to Early — a measure
rendered probable by the extension of Grant's lines in front
of Petersburg, and the steady depletion of Lee's army. Lee
had in fact requested the return f Anderson with Ker-
shaw's division and Cutshaw's battalion of artillery, about
the 1st of September, and Anderson had started for Peters-
burg on the 3d, but his movement was prevented by an unex-
pected encounter with General Crook at Berryville. On the
14th of September he started again and found his march
unimpeded. His departure was Sheridan's signal for action
The impression that this period of comparative quiet
could not last long, which had prevailed for some days in the
army, was suddenly strengthened by the appearance at
General Sheridan's headquarters at Chaiiestown, on the 16th
of September, of Lieutenant General U. S. Grant. Im-
patient of the delay of offensive operations in the valley, he
had come up from Petersburg to confer with Sheridan in
person, bringing with him also a plan of battle to give to the
latter. He was met by Sheridan with the information, re-
ceived the night before, that Kershaw's division had at last
been detached from Early's army; that he (Sheridan) was
now fully ready to move, having been waiting only for this
weakening of his opponent's force, and was confident of suc-
cess. "He explained so clearly," says General Grant in his
report, "the location and condition of the two armies, and
1 This reconnoisance is the affair which appears in Adjt. General
Washburn's official lists of engagements as "Opequan, September 13, 1864."
It was hardly of consequence enough to be included in the list, and the
title is misleading, as liable to be confounded with the battle of Winchester
fought a week later, which in various histories bears the title of The
Opequon.
512 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
pointed out so distinctly the course he should pursue if lefb
at liberty, that I saw no instructions were necessary except
the simple words, ' Go in ! ' ' General Grant remained one
day more, and then returned to City Point. On Sunday,
September 18th, a supply train arrived; the sick men and
superfluous baggage were taken back to Harper's Ferry in
the same wagons ; five days rations were distributed ; and the
troops of Sheridan's army lay down that night quite certain
that they should not sleep in that camp another night.
Early, on his part, was not wholly unprepared for action on
the part of his opponent, for, having gone on the 17th with
Eodes's and Gordon's divisions to Martinsburg, on the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad, to put a stop to the repairing of the
road, which was in progress at that point under protection
of Averell's cavalry, he learned at the telegraph office there
that Grant was with Sheridan that day. Consequently, as-
he says, he "expected an early move."
THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, OR THE OPEQUON.
The situation was as follows : The Opequon Creek, five
miles to the west of Sheridan's position, divided the two-
armies. It was a formidable barrier to the Union army, for
the crossings were difficult and diligently guarded by Early.
The latter's forces were strung along the pike for twelve
miles, from Winchester to Bunker Hill, with his cavalry
thrown out to Martinsburg. He had with him, after Ker-
shaw left him, about 17,000 men. Sheridan's army was
posted, as it had been for two weeks, between Clifton and
Berryville. He states that his " fighting strength " at this
time was about 18,000 infantry and 3,500 cavalry. The
Vermont brigade, slightly reduced by the departure of the
original members of the Fifth Vermont, 107 in number,
whose time expired on the 15th, was for the time being
under the command of Colonel James M. Warner, of the
BATTLEFIELD
OF THE
OPEQUON
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 513
Eleventh Vermont, General L. A. Grant having gone north
on a brief leave of absence.
General Sheridan's intention had been to move across
Early's communications at Newtown, south of Winchester,
and to fight him there ; but on learning of the movement of
Rodes's and Gordon's divisions toward Martinsburg, he
changed his plan and decided to move direct on Winchester,
hoping to strike and overwhelm the two divisions near there
before the return of Eodes and Gordon; and intending to
attend to the case of the latter, a little later.
Sheridan's plan of battle, as thus decided on, was as
follows : Wilson, with a division of cavalry was directed to
move before daylight from the left of the Union lines at Ber-
ry ville, over the Berry ville and Winchester pike, carry the
crossing of the Opequon, clear the way through the long,
crooked and wooded ravine beyond, through which lay the
approach to Winchester, and hold the open and higher
ground beyond, east of the town, till the infantry should come
up and occupy it. The Sixth and Nineteenth corps were to
follow Wilson as closely as possible through the defile and
take position near Winchester ; while Torbert with Merritt's
division of cavalry was to move from the right to the Mar-
tinsburg pike, near Stephenson's depot, six miles north of
Winchester, where Averell's cavalry, moving up the pike
from Darksville, were to join him, and help to check the
return of the two Confederate divisions supposed to be
north of that point. In fact, however, Kodes had returned to
Stevenson's the night previous, and Gordon marched thither
at sunrise, so that both were within easy reach of Win-
chester, and they were at once called thither by Early, when
he learned at daylight that Sheridan had crossed the
Opequon in force. Sheridan's army was astir at one o'clock
in the morning of the 19th, and at two o'clock Getty's
division, leading the advance of the Sixth corps and of the
infantry column, moved out from the camp near Clifton ;
514 "VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
marched across the country in the darkness to the Berryville
and Winchester pike, and filing into that, reached the
crossing of the Opequon at six o'clock. Crossing the creek
without delay, the division pushed on through the ravine to
the rolling ground, two miles beyond the creek and about the
same distance from Winchester, where Wilson had taken an
earthwork and was holding an excellent position against
the Confederate division of Ramseur, which had advanced
to meet him. The sides of the ravine were lined with
wounded cavalrymen, as the Yermont brigade passed through
it ; and the enemy's artillery were firing briskly as the brigades
of the division successively deployed in the open ground.
They were posted on the left of the pike, under the eye of
General Sheridan, who was already, as the troops were glad
to see, at the very front, and superintending in person details
which many of the commanders were wont to entrust to the
gentlemen of their staffs. Getty's division was deployed in a
single line. The right of the Vermont brigade rested on
the pike, and the first and third brigades prolonged the
division line to the left, to Abraham's Creek, a little affluent
of the Opequon. Ricketts's division, which followed Getty's,
was deployed on the right of the pike, and Russell's
division was held in reserve. On the right of the Yermont
brigade was the earthwork taken by Wilson, from which
a Union battery was replying to the enemy's fire, from
which Bidwell's brigade was suffering severely. The Yermont
brigade was sheltered by a strip of pine timber, and the men
lay for the most part undisturbed for three rather anxious
hours, during which the Nineteenth corps, impeded for a
time by the guns and wagons of the Sixth corps, was making
its way through the ravine. This delay in the arrival of the
troops on the field, occasioned by the necessity of fording a
stream and filing through a long gorge, prevented the crush-
ing of Ramseur, and enabled Early to bring up his detached
divisions from Stephenson's ; and when, at half past eleven
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 515
Sheridan's lines were at last ready to move forward, he had
nearly the whole of Early's army to fight.
The battle was fought in two stages. In the first, the
Sixth corps, advancing on both sides of the Berry ville pike,
drove back Ramseur and Eodes for a third of a mile, while
on the right, Emory with the Nineteenth corps attacked Gor-
don and drove one of his brigades 1 back through the woods
which had sheltered it, and to within musket range of his
artillery. The Union line became broken along its centre
during this advance, by the fire of the Confederate batteries ;
.and with the aid of a fresh Confederate brigade, of Rodes's
division, arriving at this time, the enemy rallied. Bodes
and Gordon then advanced with their divisions, driving
back a part of Ricketts's division of the Sixth corps ai«:d
Grover's of the Nineteenth, nearly to the line from which
they had moved. In this advance of the enemy, General
Rodes, one of the best of Early's lieutenants, was killed.
Things looked serious for a short time on the Union right.
The front line of the Nineteenth corps was almost wholly
disorganized, and was replaced by the second line. The
right of Ricketts's division was also considerably broken up.
His left, with Getty's division, remained firm, though it fell
Lack a short distance to keep up a continuous front. Gen-
eral Early says that if he had had fresh troops to push in
at that time, the day would have been his. General Wright
now ordered forward Russell's division. "It was," as he says
4'too early in the battle to choose to put in the reserves."
Still, "seeing that the fate of the day depended on the em-
ployment of this force," he sent it forward. It deployed
with division front, and advancing relieved Ricketts until he
could re-form his division, when Sheridan sent the latter
farther to the right. Upton's brigade, of Russell's division,
was held back by Sheridan, till a Confederate column, which
1 Evans's brigade of Georgia troops.
516 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
was pushing through the interval between the Sixth and
Nineteenth corps, presented its flank, when Upton, with a
gallant charge, struck and drove it back in disorder and with
heavy loss. General Upton was wounded in this charge.
The Union line was then re-established ; the demoralized
troops, which, to the number of two or three thousand, had
gone to the rear, were brought back into line ; and General
Russell filled the gap in the Union centre with two of his
brigades. While posting these along a crest, this modest
and gallant officer, the idol of his division, fell dead, pierced
through the heart by a piece of a shell.
Two hours of comparative quiet followed, though there
was heavy skirmishing along the lines. Early was re-forming
his lines across the ground between Abraham's Creek and
Bed Bud Eun, there about a mile and a half apart. He was
now strengthened by the arrival of Breckenridge, who with
Wharton's division and King's artillery, which had been left
back at Stevenson's and had narrowly escaped capture by
Merritt and Averell, reached the field at two o'clock. Sheri-
dan was also re-arranging his lines, distributing ammunition,
and bringing up Crook's command,1 hitherto held in reserve
behind the right of the Nineteenth corps.
About four o'clock the second stage of the battle opened,
with an attack by Crook on Early's left flank, the troops com-
posing which were driven back in confusion, while Torbert
charged up the Martinsburg pike with his cavalry, driving
the enemy's cavalry in a confused mass through Brecken-
ridge's broken infantry. As soon as Sheridan, who supervised
this movement in person, saw it in process of successful ex-
ecution, he started on his black horse down the front of the
Nineteenth and Sixth corps, riding at tremendous speed and
accompanied only by a single orderly, along the skirmish line,
1 This was composed of two small infantry divisions, commanded by
colonels, and was known as the "Eighth corps" and as the "Army of
West Virginia."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 517
amid the flying bullets, and ordered a simultaneous advance
of both corps. Getty, seeing the enemy's left in disorder,
had already ordered his division forward, and the general
advance was made with great steadiness. The Confederate
lines fell back before it for a mile, till reaching some
breastworks constructed early in the war near the town of
Winchester, Early strove to make a final stand. But the
effort proved unavailing. Sheridan, who had again hurried
to the right, sent Torbert to charge once more around Early 's
left, which gave way at once. Colonel Thomas of the Eighth
Yermont led the advance of the Nineteenth corps with a
famous bayonet charge of his regiment. The Sixth corps
rushed simultaneously for the works in front ; and as the
evening fell, Early's whole army broke through the town
in complete retreat. " We sent them whirling through Win-
chester," said Sheridan in his famous dispatch. "I never
saw our troops in such confusion before," wrote a captured
Confederate officer, — "our scattered troops, closely followed
by the large army of pursuers, retreated rapidly and in dis-
order through the city." They fled too rapidly to be over-
taken by Sheridan's infantry ; but his cavalry followed Early's
rear to Kernstown, whence, under cover of the darkness, he
made good his retreat to Strasburg.
The share of the Vermont brigade in this good day's
work cannot be better told than in the words of Major
Walker of the Eleventh Vermont :
"It was noon before the Nineteenth corps had reached its
place and was formed in three or four lines on the right of the
Sixth. Our men during the forenoon had been resting, sitting
or lying on the ground. When at last the disposition was
completed and the signal gun was fired, they sprang to the
ranks, and the line advanced. Particular instructions had
been received to the effect that the road ' was to give the
1 The Berryville pike.
518 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
direction of attack, and that the guiding regiment was to be
the left regiment of the Third division, just across the road
from our right.
" In passing through the bit of trees in our front, which
was filled with underbrush, our line was necessarily thrown
somewhat into confusion. When we emerged from the wood
and the ground over which we must make our attack was
developed, the prospect was appalling. The hill gradually
sloped away before us, for a quarter of a mile, to a long
ravine, irregular in its course, but its windings extending
either way as far as we could see. The ascent beyond it was
in most places sharp, and the enemy held its crest in force,
perfectly commanding with musketry and artillery the long
slope down which we must pass, though the acclivity on the
further side of the hollow was so steep as to actually present
a cover from their fire — if it could once be reached.
"When this fearful prospect opened, the line involuntarily
halted, and the men threw themselves on the ground as was
their wont when under fire. Our own brigade was properly
waiting for the movement of the guiding regiment, which lay
across the road a little to our rear, and which could not be
prevailed upon to stir. To add to the peril of the situation,
the road, instead of continuing straight on, as seems to have
been expected, here made a bend to the left so that our
original orders could not be obeyed without an amount of
obliquing that would have resulted in demoralization ; from
this cause our own brigade was soon afterwards thrown
into temporary confusion, and the Third division was pre-
sently so disorganized as to be unable to resist a counter-
charge made against it by the enemy.
"At length the commander of the brigade at our right
crossed to our side of the road and urged us to set his men
the example. Colonel Warner took the responsibility,
brought the brigade to its feet, corrected the alignment, and
gave the command to advance, which was promptly obeyed.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 519
The Third division followed and the line was again in motio .
But our point of direction was lost, for we were in advance
of our guides, and when it was seen that owing to a curve in
the ravine before us the cover on its further side could be
reached much sooner by obliquing sharply to the left, we
took that direction, almost by common consent, and left th&
road-side.
"Our whole brigade, every man at the top of his speed,,
making for the coveted protection of the hill beyond us,
plunged pell mell into the hollow. The troops at our right
and left were lost sight of. The ravine was of some con-
siderable width and its bottom was marshy, being the head
waters of a little branch of Abraham Creek. The steep slope
on its further side was covered with evergreens six or eight
feet high. To our intense consternation, as we reached its
swampy bottom, we saw at our right, at short pistol range, at
least a full regiment of the enemy, drawn up in line near the
point where the road crosses the hollow, in anticipation of
our taking precisely the course we did, and firing coolly, as
rapidly as they could load, directly along our line, thus enfi-
lading us completely. The slaughter was for a few moments
murderous. We could not retreat, for we should again enter
the fire that had been mowing us down in the charge, now
cut off by the hill before us. We therefore floundered on,
our coherence entirely lost; entered the clusters of ever-
greens through which the cruel bullets whistled fearfully, and
at last, a confused mass at best, those of us who escaped
unhurt reached comparative safety under the very crest of
the hill, and high above the deadly hollow. We now opened
fire for the first time during the day, in the direction of the
regiment or brigade that had so frightfully thinned our ranks,
but they were almost out of reach from us, as well as we from
them. At this moment, however, the Third division ap-
proached them and they filed away.
"When this was discovered, and after gaining breath, our
520 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
own advance was resumed, but with little pretence at order.
Emerging upon the plain before us at the summit of the hill
we had climbed, we again turned obliquely towards the road
and charged upon a long breastwork filled with rebels, in our
immediate front. The retreat of their comrades from the
ravine apparently demoralized them ; many fled, many more
were captured ; in fact as we clambered over the parapet it
seemed as if the prisoners who then surrendered exceeded in
number our entire brigade.
"But we did not stop to count them or to care for them.
The principal position of the enemy in this portion of the
field had now been gained, and we rushed onward toward
the distant spires of Winchester, with shouts and cheers, now
thoroughly excited by our unexpected success. A battery of
the enemy was before us but it limbered up and retired as
we advanced. Several times it turned, fired a round of canis-
ter, and resumed its flight. At our left the other brigades of
our division were seen moving on in our support. At our
right an unfortunate ridge now rose, parallel with our line of
advance, along the top of which ran the road so often referred
to, and which hid our friends from view ; we could only hope
that they were equally successful, and pushed wildly forward.
A point was reached, probably three-fourths of a mile beyond
the intrenchments where we had captured the prisoners,
when luckily a ditch running across our path suggested cover
and a pause. This ditch was reached only by the colors of
the Fifth, with perhaps two hundred men from the various
regiments. Exhausted with running they opened fire as
vigorously as they could, but a line of rebels was seen gradu-
ally collecting in their front, as the fugitives were rallied, and
the position held by our troops was presently dangerously
threatened. And now, to their dismay, the brigade on the
higher ground to their left saw reason for retiring and called
to them to follow. What it could mean they did not know,
but it seemed prudent to withdraw, if only for the purpose of
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 521
keeping up the connection. An officer sent to investigate
soon reported that at least a division of the enemy were far
behind their right, in an orchard which they supposed had
been carried by the Third division. Orders were given
therefore to fall back to the line of the army, following the
low ground on the left, thus keeping under cover of the hill
at the right, the enemy meantime being absorbed in their
movement against Eicketts ; and thus the detachment suc-
cessfully escaped from its dangerous position and re-formed
with the balance of the brigade near the works we had car-
ried, being as before on the right of the other brigades of
our division, connecting with and at first even in front of the
support which was put in to meet the emergency.
"The Sixth Vermont, skirmishers through the morning,
had properly allowed us to pass them in our first charge, but
subsequently moving forward, accidentally joined the Third
division, where they gained great credit during the remainder
of the day. The whole position now held by the Sixth corps
was that occupied by the enemy at noon. Getty's division
had been entirely successful, and had completely wiped out
everything that had confronted it. The Vermont brigade in
particular met as determined resistance as any portion of the
line could have done, besides passing through the terrible
enfilading fire in the ravine ; and not only drove back the
enemy and held its ground firmly without assistance, but
actually captured hundreds of prisoners, fairly finishing the
battle in its front. The rest of the army not being equally
fortunate, we afterwards had it all to fight over again."
So much for the first stage of the battle. In the second
stage, the order to advance came to the Sixth corps at half
past three o'clock. The positions were substantially as before,
Getty's division being on the left, then Eicketts's and Eussell's
divisions, the latter now commanded by General Wheaton,
then the Nineteenth corps, and Crook as a flanking force on
the extreme right. As Getty's division advanced, the Vermont
522 VEEMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
brigade moved steadily on, with Colonel Warner's head-
quarters flag flying in the very battle line. Outstripping the
brigades on its right and left, it reached a cornfield and
garden surrounding a large brick house on the pike, about a
mile from the town. At this point in addition to severe
musketry fire in front, it was enfiladed by a Confederate bat-
tery on its left. It halted behind the fences and opened fire
The enemy was within short musket range, and the men
loaded and fired with the diligence of desperation. The
artillery rattled up behind and joined in the tumult; and
General Sheridan's wish, expressed in the morning to Colonel
Tompkins, Sixth corps chief of artillery, that he might " see
some dead horses before night " was amply gratified.1 " We
were still enfiladed," says Major Walker, "by the battery at
our left, and we saw the brigade on our right withdraw a
short distance for better shelter behind the crest of a little
hill. It seemed to us less dangerous to remain, and we
clung to our position though losing rapidly. Major Buxton
of the Eleventh was here shot dead, a bullet passing through
his brain.3 Presently the line of the enemy before us was seen
to waver and melt away ; many had fallen, others could not
endure the deadly fire, and at last we caught a vision that
redeemed Sheridan's assertion.3 The whole left of the enemy
rushed past us toward our left in the wildest disorder.
1 At the time of the repulse of the first attack, Stevens's (Fifth Maine)
battery was ordered back by a staff officer who feared its capture, but
Colonel Tompkins held it to its work, though the rebels were but two
hundred yards from the muzzles of the guns.
2 Two or three years afterwards some lunatic created a sensation in
Vermont by assuming the gallant major's name and title. The imposture,
however, could not well deceive those who had seen the major's remains,
for his death was so sudden that he did not stir from the position in which
he was lying with his face to the ground among his men.
3 "Crook and Averill are on their left and rear. We've got 'em
bagged."
THE FIRST BRIGADE. . 523
Crook and Averell had done their duty. Merritt, Ouster and
Lowell were madly urging the pursuit. They caught up with
the mass of fugitives directly in front of our position, taking
flags and cannon and thousands of prisoners.
"The brigade rose as one man, rushed at the fence that
had partially protected us, and as it fell, passed over it into
the open plain. The whole army was seized with the same
impulse and strode joyfully forward, a huge crescent, with
waving flags and wild hurrahs. The scene was wonderful.
The infantry kept a rapid march and the alignment seemed
complete. ' Beautiful as an army with banners,' is a figure
full of meaning and its power was then completely realized.
And in that joyful mood, conscious of strength and of victory,
we closed upon the city.1 Our brigade was halted at the edge
of the town near a vineyard covering perhaps an acre of
ground, filled with grapes, ripe and abundant. The day's
work had allowed no time to eat or drink and the oppor-
tunity thus offered was improved to the fullest extent. While
we were thus regaling ourselves with the luscious fruit General
Sheridan came by, and was saluted with the wildest cheers.
Since the time of McClellan it had been a point of pride
with the brigade not to cheer its officers ; but on this occasion
tumultous hurrahs came unbidden from the bottom of every
heart."
The battle of Winchester, or of the Opequon, was the
most sanguinary, and has been called "by all means the most
1 "The cheers of the Union boys (during the final charge) rose clear
and strong above the roar of artillery and the harsh rattle of musketry, and
Early's demoralized divisions were rushing through Winchester in unutter-
able confusion. Frightened teamsters were lashing their animals through
the streets in greatest alarm ; and riderless horses were galloping here and
there. Some streets became entirely blocked by the disordered mass, and
even footmen could not pass through. A squad of cavalry coming to one
of these obstructions leaped from their horses and made their escape on
foot. Our cavalry rushed among the panic-stricken fugitives and gathered
hundreds of them."— Three yeais in the Sixth corps.
524 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
important battle ever fought in the valley of Virginia"1 It
restored the lower valley to Union control, which was never
again relaxed, and thus put an end to invasions of Maryland
and raids against the National capital. It had, moreover, an
extraordinary moral effect throughout the North. 2
It was a hard-fought battle. The Sixth corps artillery
alone expended eighteen wagon loads of ammunition. The
lo.sses of Sheridan's army aggregated about 4,300 killed and
wounded.3 Early, who invariably understates his own force,
exaggerates that of his opponent, and distorts every possible
circumstance in his own favor, admits a loss of 1,793 killed
and wounded and 1,818 missing in his infantry and artillery.
As his cavalry also suffered heavily, his loss, by his own
showing, must have been nearly as great as that of his assail-
ants. It was probably fully equal to the Union loss. It
included Maj. General Rodes, Brig. General Goodwin and
Colonel Patton, commanding a brigade, killed, and Brig.
Generals Fitz Lee and York severely wounded. Sheridan
captured 2,000 prisoners — over two hundred of which were
taken by the Vermont brigade — five guns and nine battle
flags ; took and held the field and the village of Winches-
ter, its houses filled with Confederate wounded ; and camped
that night south of Winchester.
The part of the Vermonters in the victory, as has been
seen, was important, and the regiments of the old brigade
deserved a good share of the praise which General Getty
awarded to the troops of his gallant division, for they were
1 General Wesley Merritt.
" We remember no victory in this war which has more suddenly and
joyfully awakened the sympathies of the North, nor one which has been
welcomed with a more enthusiastic delight."— New York Tribune. Septem-
ber 20, 1864.
8 The exact figures are not obtainable, as the tables of casualties in
Crook's command include also the casualties at Fisher's Hill.
THE FIRST BEIGADE. 525
the troops that held the right of his line firm when the
troops to their right gave way.1 And other Vermont regi-
ments bore an equally honorable part. The First Vermont
cavalry, Colonel Wells, was with General Wilson in the
advance through the ravine and operations on the extreme
left, and was part of the pursuing force which followed up
Early after his rout. The Eighth Vermont, Colonel Thomas,
distinguished itself on the right with the Nineteenth corps,
as narrated in subsequent pages, while the Tenth Vermont
fought in the third division of the Sixth corps, and lost its
brave commander, Major Dillingham, and nearly 60 men,
killed and wounded.
The losses of the First Vermont brigade were as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Died of Wounds. Total.
Second Vermont 2 30 0 5 32
Third 1 26 3 3 30
Fourth " 1 15 0 1 16
Fifth " 6 22 0 0 28
Sixth 5 46 0 5 51
Eleventh " 7 85 6 12 98
Total, 22 224 9 26 255
Among the killed were Major Buxton and Captain Duhigg
of the Eleventh Vermont, and among the wounded were
Lieutenant Towle of the Fourth, mortally ; Adjutant Lincoln
and Captain Jocelyn of the Sixth, and Captains Eldridge and
Safford of the Eleventh.
Colonel Warner's handling of the brigade was highly
praised, and he was next day assigned to the permanent com-
mand of the first brigade of Getty's division, vice Wheaton,
who succeeded General Russell, killed, in the command of
the First division of the Sixth corps. In the absence of
1 " With great pride I bear witness to the uniform good conduct of the
command, both officers and men. In the battle of Winchester, when the
troops on my right broke, nothing could exceed their steadiness." — General
Getty, in his Report.
526 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
General L. A. Grant, Colonel George P. Foster of the Fourth
Vermont now took command of the brigade.
There was no stopping for sight-seeing in Winchester,1
for Sheridan's troops, and not much for rest ; and sunrise
next morning found his army moving to the south in pursuit
of the enemy.
On the 21st ten officers, including Lieut. Colonel Ste-
phen M. Pingree, Surgeon S. J. Allen, Adjutant French and
Quartermaster H. T. Cushman, and 136 men of the Fourth
regiment, whose three years' term of service had expired,
started for home to be mustered out, leaving a battalion of
about 200 men of the Fourth, present for duty, which was
allowed to retain its name and organization for the good
service it had done.
Two miles south of Strasburg, and twenty miles south of
Winchester, in the centre of the valley — here narrowed to five
miles by the interposition of the Massanutten chain, half way
between the Blue Ridge on the east and Little North Moun-
tain on the west — is the natural fastness and watchtower of
Fisher's Hill. The north fork of the Shenandoah winds in a
tortuous course along the eastern base of the hill, and under
its northern face a small mountain stream, called Tumbling
Run, runs across the valley, its banks rising into hills and
bluffs, intersected by ravines. Across the North Fork, on
the east side, on a peak of the Massanutten, or Three Top
Mountains, a signal station commanded a full view of the
approaches and of the valley to the north. The position had
been selected and intrenched by Stonewall Jackson two
years before, and had been a stronghold for the Confederates
in all previous operations in the valley. Early had occupied
1 Winchester is the resting place of the remains of Thomas, Earl of
Fairfax, from whom Fairfax county, Virginia, was named, and of the Rev-
olutionary hero, General Daniel Morgan, of Quebec and Saratoga fame, and
the scene of some of Washington's early military experiences in the French
and Indian war.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 527
its rugged sides and Sheridan had halted before it, but had
not ventured to assail it, five weeks before. Hither Early
despatched his trains, as soon as he saw that defeat was
probable at Winchester, and here he took his army on the
morning of the 20th. He at once added to the strength of
the position by fresh fortifications and by extending the de-
fensive works to the west. The ravines were blocked with
fallen trunks, and the hills and hollows were furrowed with
rifle pits, protected by abatis. Early's guns raked the turn-
pike and the Back road, which were the main approaches to
the position, and so secure did he feel that his ammunition
boxes were taken from the caissons and placed for con-
venience behind the breastworks.
Sheridan followed up the valley pike, — the Sixth corps
leading the infantry. In the latter part of the afternoon,
Wright and Emory crossed Cedar Creek, two miles north of
Strasburg, where they met the Confederate outposts, and the
two corps bivouacked in the woods on Hupp's Hill just out-
side of that village, the Union pickets occupying the northern
outskirts of Strasburg and the Confederate pickets the
southern. The Eighth corps halted in the timber near Cedar
Creek.
BATTLE OF FISHEE'S HILL.
In the early morning of the next day, the 21st, General
Sheridan reconnoitred the position, finding that Early's
main line ran along the south side of Tumbling Hun, and
that he had been busily strengthening it during the night.
He also held an elevation, called in some accounts Flint's
Hill, on the north side of the Eun, which, to some extent,
commanded the centre of his position, and was thus too valu-
able to be left to his opponent. Sheridan's lines faced Early's
with a front three miles long, the Sixth corps being on the
right and the Nineteenth corps on the left ; and the lines
528 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
were advanced till they came under constant fire from the
enemy's batteries and sharpshooters. The troops, however,
were sheltered by stone walls, or ridges, or timber, and
suffered little loss. The position of the Vermont brigade dur-
ing the afternoon was to the left of Flint's Hill. The shells
whizzed frequently overhead, and as Colonel Foster was pass-
ing along the line, the bearer of his headquarters flag, Cor-
poral Thomas J. Miller of Company K. of the Third Yermont,
was killed by a sharpshooter's bullet.1 As preparatory to the
operations of the next day, Sheridan desired possession of
Flint's Hill, and General Wright was directed to occupy it.
He sent three regiments thither, two from Bicketts's and one
from Getty's division, but they found the enemy there in force
and were twice repulsed. Colonel James M. Warner, com-
manding the first brigade of Getty's division, was then
ordered to carry the position. He did so in a gallant bayo-
net charge, about sundown, driving the enemy across the Run
and winning for himself a brevet as brigadier general.2
The Vermont brigade was moved up to support Warner's
assault, and halted in a wood which hid from view the opera-
tions on the hill. The musketry firing was sharp in front,
but its subsidence soon indicated that Warner had carried the
hill, and they did not become engaged. Aftei dark the brig-
ade was advanced up to Warner's right, into an open field
on the crest and western slope of Flint's Hill. Muskets were
then exchanged for shovels, and the night was occupied in
throwing up a substantial breastwork to protect their line.
This elevation became the centre of Sheridan's lines the next
day, and without it the operations of the 22d would have
been impracticable. This gained, Sheridan could mature his
plan of attack, which in its main features was similar to that
'Miller was the only man of the brigade killed at Fisher's Hill.
5 One of his staff, Lieutenant J. A. Lewis of the Eleventh Vermont, was
wounded in this charge by a bullet which shot away part of his chin.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 529
which had proved so successful at Winchester, and was imi-
tated a month later by Early, at Cedar Creek. It was to
move Crook's force, of 5,000 men, which had been kept back
out of sight, around to the right, screening the movement by
the forests, to Little North Mountain, beyond the left of
Early 's line, and thus to flank his left and rear, while the Sixth
and Nineteenth corps were to attack directly in front. At
the same time Torbert, with Wilson's and Merritt's cavalry
divisions, was sent up the Luray valley with orders to occupy
New Market, which would bring him in the rear of Early and
enable him to cut off the latter's retreat, should he be driven
from Fisher's Hill.
Thursday, the 22d, opened clear and warm, the daylight
disclosing the long lines of Confederate intrenchments,
fringed with abatis, crowning the hills half a
Sept. 22, 1864. . ' '
mile or more in front, across Tumbling Run.
From Flint's Hill the enemy's working parties were plainly
visible, busily engaged in strengthening their works. Two
light batteries of rifled pieces were brought up to the line of
the Vermont brigade, but no shooting took place during the
forenoon except between the pickets on the two sides of the
Eun. Generals Sheridan, Wright, Emory and Crook were
noticed reconnoitring the enemy's position from the top of
the hill, and the latter, after a close scrutiny of the country
to the right with a glass, was seen to ride rapidly away to
join his command, which was already moving. During the
forenoon Crook's column wound through the woods, to the
west, to the mountain side. The glitter of the muskets of
his troops, occasionally seen through openings of the forest,
indicated their progress to the eyes which were watching
the movement from Flint's Hill, but it was wholly concealed
from the enemy, whose attention was also diverted during the
forenoon by a movement of Eicketts's division. This moved
in handsome shape from the woods to the front and right,
driving in the enemy's skirmishers and halting in front of
34
530 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Early's left, while Averell's cavalry moved to a bare knoll to
the right of Kicketts. Taking this movement to betoken
a direct attack from that quarter. Early bent all his energies
to strengthening his works on his left and to the construction
of a new earthwork to command the ground between him and
this threatening battle line.
At two o'clock P. M. Crook had reached the mountain
and was making his way without path or guide along its steep
side, making sure to climb high enough to clear the ene-
my's left, which rested on the base of the mountain. By four
o'clock he had completely turned Early's flank and formed
his command for the assault. Half an hour later he was
sweeping down the Confederate left and rear, driving be-
fore him Lomax's astonished cavalry, which were guarding
Early's extreme left, and taking in reverse the divisions of
Bamseur and Pegram, whose troops, supposing that Crook
had come across the mountain, fled from their trenches in
utter dismay.
General Sheridan, who from his post of observation on
Flint's Hill had been impatiently awaiting Crook's appear-
ance,1 no sooner saw the glitter of his bayonets as his line
emerged from the woods at the base of the mountain, than
he ordered the Sixth and Nineteenth corps forward against
the Confederate left and centre. Getty advanced his division
to the slope close above Tumbling Run, under heavy fire from
the batteries on the opposite crest. The artillery, hitherto
massed behind Flint's Hill, went rapidly into battery in the
field in front, and replied with the roar of thirty guns. Kick-
etts swung his line around and up to the enemy's works
in his front, the men rushing up the steep ascent and tak-
ing the earthwork which had been built before their eyes,
1 " General Sheridan spent hours that day sweeping with his glass from
right to left, occasionally pausing to remark to some bystander, or to
mutter to himself: Til get a twist on 'em, d n 'em.'"— Major A. F.
Walker.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 531
and joining Crook, who still kept steadily on, in his flanking
movement. Then Early's whole army broke for the rear in
utter rout.1 This retreat was the signal for a general forward
rush of the troops of the Sixth and Nineteenth corps. It
was a headlong run over fields, walls and rocks, a rush
through the brook, a scramble up the heights, through the
abatis and over the breastworks, and then, turning to the left,
a hurried pursuit of the enemy, in which all formations were
largely lost. Guns were fired and re-loaded as the soldiers
ran. Captured cannon were wheeled about and discharged
at the panic-stricken foe. General Sheridan joined Getty's
division, shouting : " Run boys, run ! Don't wait to form !
Don't let them stop!" adding to those who were too tired
to run : "If you can't run, then cheer!" The rush continued
till Early's entire line of works, so difficult of access and
so strongly fortified, had been swept clean of defenders, and
till the enemy had vanished into the woods, 011 their hasty
way to and through "Woodstock.
In the first advance of Getty's division, at four o'clock
p. M., the Yermont brigade leaped over the breastworks in its
front, with the rest of the division, and moving off by the left
flank, with the Second regiment deployed as skirmishers,
went to the right and down near the bank of Tumbling Run,
the rebel grape and shell meanwhile rattling vigorously
through the trees which partially covered the movement. In
the charge on the enemy's works an hour later, the brigade
crossed Tumbling Run at a point where it had been dammed
and formed a shallow pond ; floundered through this ; crossed
another branch of the Run, and charged up the hill to and
over the works which had guarded the front of Pegram's
division. Here four guns of Carpenter's battery,3 a battle-flag
1 " My whole force retired in considerable confusion." — General Early
in his Memoir.
2 Alleghany (Va.) Artillery.
532 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and 300 prisoners were taken by the troops of Getty's divi-
sion, and on a handsome staff which was here taken the
headquarters flagx of the Vermont brigade was afterwards
mounted. The division first halted on the Valley turnpike
where it crosses the summit of Fisher's Hill. Some Con-
federate troops which had apparently been cut off from the
enemy's extreme right being discovered on the hill between
the turnpike and the Shenandoah, the Eleventh Vermont
was sent by General Crook across a deep ravine, to dis-
lodge them. They made their escape, however, without
awaiting attack, and the Eleventh returned by a long circuit
to the pike, a mile to the south, where the remainder of the
brigade joined it. A halt of the Sixth and Eighth corps was
now ordered, to permit the troops to disentangle themselves
and find their respective regimental colors and to get supper,
while General Sheridan with the Nineteenth corps pressed
on after Early. The Sixth corps soon followed, marching
twelve miles that night to Woodstock, while Crook's troops
returned to Strasburg for their knapsacks, which had been
laid aside when they started on their detour.
This battle naturally occupies but a small space in the
Confederate reports ; and even on the Union side the victory
has been undervalued by historians from the fact that it in-
volved such small loss to Sheridan's army. But no battle in
the valley showed more military genius on the part of the
Union commander, and his army appreciated it and him.
Sheridan's loss was about 400 killed and wounded. He cap-
tured 16 guns and 1,100 prisoners. Early 's despatches to Lee
mention a loss on his part of 261 killed and wounded, making
his total loss about 1,400. The victory would have been far
more complete, had Torbert fulfilled his mission and inter-
cepted Early's retreat at New Market. But that over cautious
officer had allowed himself to be held in check at Milford, by
Wickham, with two small brigades of Confederate cavalry,
and fell back toward Front Koyal without fighting. " The
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 533
operations of the cavalry," said Sheridan, " up the Luray
Valley, on which I calculated so much, were an entire failure.
Had General Torbert driven the enemy's cavalry, or turned
the defile and reached New Market, I have no doubt but that
we would have captured the entire rebel army. I feel certain
that its rout from Fisher's Hill was such that there was
scarcely a company organization held together." General
Early, writing to General Lee, three days after, admits as
much. He says : " In the affair at Fisher's Hill, the cavalry
gave way, but it was flanked. This would have been remedied
if the troops had remained steady ; but a panic seized them
at the idea of being flanked, and without being defeated they
broke, many of them fleeing shamefully. The artillery was
not captured by the enemy, but abandoned by the infantry.
My troops were very much shattered." But had Early 's in-
fantry made a more determined stand his loss would only
liave been the greater. Their precipitate retreat, and the
darkness which fell on the field, were all that saved him from
annihilation on the spot.
" The annals of war," says General Wright in his report,
*" present perhaps no more glorious victory than this. The
enemy's lines, chosen in an almost impregnable position and
fortified with much care, were most gallantly carried by
assault, capturing most of his artillery, a large number of
prisoners, and sending his army on the run, in the most dis-
orderly manner; and all this, from the impetuosity of the
attack, with an absurdly small loss on our part." The loss of
the Vermont brigade, like that of the corps and the army, was
"absurdly small." The Tenth Vermont regiment lost more
men in the charge of Ricketts's division than the six regi-
ments of the Vermont brigade, having one man killed and
iwo officers and seven men wounded, while the brigade had
Taut one man killed and four or five wounded.
The victory of Fisher's Hill was celebrated by salutes of
artillery in Grant's army before Richmond, and at Washing-
534 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
ton, and the news of it met an enthusiastic reception through-
out the North.
Early 's demoralized troops fled in the night of the 22d,
through Woodstock to an excellent position for a stand, called
the " Narrow Passage," four miles south of Woodstock. Sheri-
dan followed him by the turnpike, which he found lighted by
burning wagons, destroyed by Early to prevent their capture,
though the latter says that all his trains were carried off in
safety. The Sixth corps halted next morning at Woodstock,
where a supply train overtook the tired and hungry soldiers,
and was welcomed by them, not only for its burden of rations,
but as a mark of excellent management on the part of their
general. This day was practically lost by the inefficiency of
Averell,1 who went into camp with his cavalry division after
the battle of Fisher's Hill, instead of following the enemy,
and when he finally got to the front of the Union infantry
allowed himself and them to be kept stationary by mythical
bodies of the enemy, reported by him as in position near
Mount Jackson.
On the morning of the 24th the army again advanced
and overtook Early, strongly posted at Kude's Hill, three
miles south of Mount Jackson, where several barracks were
found full of wounded Confederates. Sheridan prepared to
attack, deploying his infantry and sending the cavalry out on
the enemy's flanks, but his opponent declined to fight and
withdrew, in line of battle, through New Market to Sparta,
twenty odd miles to the south. He was closely followed by
Sheridan. The day was clear; the country a plateau so
open as to allow each side to observe the movements of the
other, and the day was one of the most picturesque and ex-
citing of the campaign. Early fell back rapidly, his trains
leading the way, and his rear guard halting every mile or two
and using artillery on his pursuers. On Sheridan's side the
1 For which Sheridan relieved him of his command.
THE FIRST BEIQADE. 53 &
artillery, baggage-wagons and ambulances, moving in double
procession, filled the smooth, wide turnpike. The infantry
marched on each side of the pike, the Sixth corps on the left,
with Getty's division in advance, in parallel columns of
brigades, the Yermont brigade being next the pike. The
Nineteenth corps marched on the right of the pike, and
in front Devin's cavalry crowded closely on the enemy's
rear with a light battery, which often galloped to the front
of the skirmish line and opened furiously on the fugitives.
Thirteen miles were made in this fashion without a halt
and with the enemy in constant sight. At nightfall the=
tired troops of the Sixth corps went into camp six miles be-
yond New Market, almost within range of Early's guns, hav-
ing gained a mile or more on the Nineteenth corps in the
march. Early made a show of halting for the night; but
after dark, leaving his watch-fires burning, he put five miles
more between him and his pursuers ; and the latter saw him
no more till he woke them up on the foggy morning of the
19th of October at Cedar Creek. Early made good his
retreat to Brown's Gap, sixty miles south of Fisher's Hill ;
and three weeks of marching and manoeuvring, without
fighting except between the cavalry of the two armies,
followed.
At Brown's Gap, Early was reinforced by the return to
him of Kershaw's division of infantry, and Cutshaw's battalion
of artillery, which about made good his losses at Winchester
and Fisher's Hill. Sheridan followed him to Harrisonburg
and Mount Crawford; and then becoming satisfied that
Early could easily avoid a decisive encounter, and preferring
to be nearer his base of supply, which was now eighty miles
away, he began preparations to return down the valley, in-
tending to terminate the campaign by the destruction of the
crops in that fertile section. To this end he threw his cavalry
across the valley from the Blue Kidge to the North Mountain,
536 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
and the crops of grain and the mills which had been so valu-
able a source of supply to the Confederate army, were
thoroughly destroyed, as he retired.
From the 25th to the 29th of September, the Vermont
brigade was with the Sixth corps at Harrisonburg. Though
rations were scanty, the men supplied themselves by foraging,
and there was no suffering. On the 29th, a march of seven
miles was made to Mount Crawford. Here detachments
sent out to the numerous mills obtained large supplies of
flour, and Major Safford of the Eleventh Yermont, a practical
miller, ground and brought into camp a full day's ration for
Getty's whole division. On the 30th, Sheridan's army was
again concentrated around Harrisonburg, the Yermont
brigade going back to its former camp. October 2d, a bat-
talion of 500 picked men from the brigade, scoured the
adjacent mountains for stragglers and guerillas ; but found
more apple brandy and cattle than men. The constant raids
by Mosby and the guerrillas on Sheridan's trains and com-
munications, during this period, made the transmission of
mails uncertain ; and his army was wholly cut off from news
for over two weeks, during which camp stories of the defeat
of Grant by Lee, and of the capture of Richmond by Grant,
had free and equal circulation.
On the 6th of October, when the army began moving
back down the valley, the Yermont brigade broke camp at
Harrisonburg and made a long and fast march without any
stop for dinner, halting at night near Mount Jackson. At
New Market, General L. A. Grant met the brigade, having
come up with the escort of a supply train, and resumed com-
mand, after eighteen days absence. On the 7th, the march
was continued, amid pillars of smoke arising on every hand
from burning barns, mills and stacks of hay and grain-
The dwellings and household stores were spared, under rigid
orders ; but all supplies that could aid the enemy were burned
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 537
and the cattle and sheep driven along.1 On the 8th, a cold
day, with snow, the army passed over Fisher's Hill, and
camped at Strasburg.
General Early had been further re-inforced on the 5th
by the arrival of Rosser's brigade of cavalry from Petersburg.
Early attributed his recent reverses largely to the ineffi-
€iency of his cavalry and he at once placed Hosser in com-
mand of his cavalry division. This dashing officer took hold
with fresh energy, as well as fresh troops, and aspiring to the
title of " Savior of the Valley," he assumed the offensive.
On the 8th he attacked Ouster, who was covering the rear of
Sheridan's column. The First Vermont cavalry were the rear
guard on the Back Road that day and maintained a running
fight with superior forces for a good part of the day. That
night Torbert received orders from Sheridan to start back at
daylight and "whip the rebel cavalry or get whipped." He
did so, sending Merritt's and Ouster's divisions. These
struck the enemy's cavalry at Tom's Brook, southwest of
Strasburg, and after a spirited fight of two hours put them to
rout. Ouster drove Rosser back to Columbia Furnace, and
Merritt chased Lomax for twenty miles up the pike. Ouster
and Merritt took eleven guns, about fifty wagons, including
the headquarters wagons of four Confederate cavalry gen-
erals, and 330 prisoners. Robser lost all his artillery but one
gun, and "everything that was carried on wheels," and ceased
to make any further trouble to Sheridan for some time.
" The command," wrote Early to Lee, in reporting this dis-
aster, " is and has been demoralized all the time. It would
be better if they could all be put into the infantry ; but if
that were tried I am afraid they would all run off." This
1 Seventy mills, with the flour and grain, and over two thousand barns
filled with wheat and hay, were thus committed to the flames, and seven
thousand cattle and sheep were either driven off or killed and issued to
the men. Hundreds of refugees accompanied the Union army from
Staunton, Mount Crawford and Harrisonburg.
538 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
plaintive remark may have been made by Early with special
reference to Lomax's division, but it applied as well to the
whole of his cavalry after Tom's Brook. While the cavalry
were fighting the infantry halted at Strasburg.
It was Sheridan's plan to let the campaign rest here
and to send most of his troops to operate against Richmond.
Accordingly, the Sixth corps was sent on the 10th of October
to Front Eoyal, on its way to Washington. It remained
there two days, expecting the Manassas Gap railroad to be
repaired to take it to Alexandria. The weather was delight-
ful, and the rest, with the accompaniments of mutton, honey
and grapes, which were found in abundance, was grateful
to the men. But the stay there was short. Finding that
the reconstruction of the railroad would involve considerable
delay, Sheridan ordered the corps to march to Alexandria
by way of Ashby's Gap. It accordingly started at daylight
on the 13th and the men bade good-by to the valley, many
of them expecting, in consequence of a camp rumor to that
effect, that at Alexandria they would take transports and
join General Sherman in North or South Carolina.1 The
corps had marched some fifteen miles, to the ford of the
Shenandoah near Ashby's Gap, and Generals Wright and
Getty, leading the head of the column, were already in
the stream, when messengers from General Sheridan over-
took them, with orders for the return of the corps to Cedar
Creek. The explanation of this was that Early, who was sup-
posed by Sheridan to be with his main force at Gordonsville
or Charlottesville, the other side of the Blue Eidge and sixty
miles away, having learned that Sheridan was detaching
troops, had returned to the valley, and had that day re-
occupied Fisher's Hill. His presence in that quarter being
made known by a skirmish of a Confederate reconnoitring
1 General Sherman had not yet started on his march to the sea, and the
rumor anticipated the fact, by several weeks.
THE FIRST BRIGADE.
column with a portion of Crook's command, near Strasburg,
Sheridan thought best to recall the Sixth corps ; and it was
not many days before the wisdom of this precaution was
amply demonstrated. General Wright, on receipt of the
order, at once faced his corps about. It bivouacked for the
night near the ford, and starting before light next morning
reached the lines at Cedar Creek during the afternoon, after
a hard day's march by way of Newtown and Middletown.
Here, two days later, on the 16th of October, a hundred and
thirty-four officers and men of the Sixth Vermont, being the
portion of the original members of the regiment, and the last
of the original members of the brigade, whose term had
expired, and who had not re-enlisted, bade farewell to their
comrades and took their departure for Winchester and for
home. The remainder of the regiment was consolidated
into a battalion of six companies, under command of Major
Sumner H. Lincoln.1
CEDAR CREEK.
Four days of comparative quiet followed the return of
the Sixth corps. The two armies were about five miles apart,
Early's in its old position at Fisher's Hill, and Sheridan's army
on the left bank of Cedar Creek. A Confederate brigade was
thrown forward to Hupp's Hill, half way between the two-
positions, for a day or two, for reconnoitring purposes, but was
withdrawn on the 17th. On the 16th, General Sheridan left
his headquarters for Washington, having been called thither
by Secretary Stanton for a personal conference concerning
future plans, leaving General Wright in command of the
1 The command of the regiment was first tendered to Captain F. G.
Butterfield, who was commissioned by Governor Smith as lieutenant colonel
for that purpose ; but as Butterfield was unable to do field duty, in con-
sequence of a wound received at Charlestown, Va. , and his recovery was.
delayed, he declined the command and resigned his commission. Captain
Lincoln was then promoted to the majority and placed in command.
540 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
army. No more fighting was expected at present, and con-
viction that Early had got enough of it for one while, threw
officers and men to a considerable extent off their guard-
Tins feeling of security was strengthened by the result of a
reconnoissance made by General Crook, the officer in com-
mand of which reported that Early had left his old camp
and retreated up the valley. The probable explanation of
this misleading report is that the reconnoitring force did
not go beyond Hupp's Hill, and took the withdrawal of
the Confederate brigade from that point for an abandonment
of the entire Confederate position. The precaution of calling
the troops under arms at four o'clock A. M. daily, to guard
against an early morning surprise, had been for some time
discontinued. The men strolled carelessly among the groves
by day, and slept in fancied security at night.
But Early, stung by his former defeats, and aware that
he could not stay where he was, since the supplies brought
with him to Fisher's Hill were exhausted and the torches of
Sheridan's cavalry had destroyed all possibility of obtaining
provisions from the valley, had resolved to make a daring
endeavor to retrieve his reputation. He had been heavily
reinforced and must have had towards twenty thousand
infantry, though, in his memoir, written to excuse himself and
decry Sheridan as a general, he avers that he went into this
battle with but " about 8,500 muskets, and a little over forty
pieces of artillery." It was with reference to statements of
this sort that a New Englander quoted in Colonel Palfrey's
Antietam said : "A few more years, a few more books, and
it will appear that Lee and Longstreet and a one armed
orderly and a casual with a shot gun, fought all the battles
of the rebellion, and killed all the Union soldiers except those
who ran away." In cavalry Sheridan was much stronger than
Early ; but his infantry could not have much exceeded 20,000
present for duty. His entire army may possibly have been
5,000 larger than Early's. It was encamped, as above stated,
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 541
on the left bank of Cedar Creek, just above its junction with
the Shenandoah. The Creek is a shallow, rapid river, coming
through a gap in the Little North Mountain, flowing in a
general southeasterly direction across the mouth of the Upper
Shenandoah Valley, and emptying into the Shenandoah a
little north of the base of the Massannutten or Three Top
Mountain, about two miles in a direct line above Strasburg.
The Creek was nearly thirty yards wide in its lower portion ;
but could be waded anywhere, as could the Shenandoah, in
that neighborhood, at that time of the year. Wagons could
cross, at the fords where the banks had been cut down for the
accommodation of travel. Elsewhere the steep banks of the
creek were a formidable obstacle. A number of knolls and
hills, rising from one to two hundred feet above the level of
the creek, on either hand, afforded excellent positions for
batteries to command the fords. Nearly through the centre
of the Union position ran the Valley Turnpike, crossing
Cedar Creek, a mile above its mouth, by a bridge. Two
miles down the pike from the creek, is the village of Middle-
town. The Union line was picketed across the valley by
infantry pickets and cavalry videttes. Sheridan's army was
posted in half a dozen separate camps within supporting dis-
tance of each other, extending some four miles or more in an
irregular bow, facing southerly on the left, where the creek
makes a bend to the east before joining the river, and
fronting more towards the west on the centre and right.
The Eighth corps was upon the extreme left, in two camps, on
separate elevations on the left of the turnpike. On the right
of the turnpike, the Nineteenth corps occupied the centre,
compactly encamped on an elevated plain, its camp guarded
by a line of breastworks a short distance in front, extending
along the brow of the bank of Cedar Creek. Back of its-
camp was the Belle Grove House, the headquarters of Gen-
erals Sheridan and Crook. Farther to the right, and across
Meadow Bun, a deep brook running into Cedar Creek, lay
542 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the Sixth corps, with Getty's division on the extreme right,
and somewhat refused, so that the division faced to the north-
west. Its camp was not intrenched. Still farther to the
right were the cavalry camps.
The Confederate signal station on the high brow of Three
Top Mountain looked down upon all these camps. Guns,
troops and tents were distinctly visible from this station, and
it was with a definite knowledge of the location of the Union
forces, that Early and his lieutenants arranged their plan of
attack. It was to be a surprise and a scoop. Gordon was
to lead a column in the night from Fisher's Hill through the
woods around under the base of Three Top Mountain on the
south side of the Shenandoah; stealthily cross the river
below the mouth of the creek where the Union line was
lightly picketed, no attack from that quarter being deemed
possible ; and having thus turned the left of Sheridan's line,
was to strike Crook upon his left and rear at daybreak and
repeat for him the operation he had executed so disastrously
to Early 's left at Fisher's Hill four weeks before. A small
brigade of cavalry accompanying the column had orders to
push right to the Belle Grove House and capture Sheridan,
whose absence was not known to Early. General Early was
himself to take a column, with all his artillery, down the
turnpike through Strasburg to Cedar Creek and attack
Sheridan's left and centre from the front, as soon as Gordon
should have become engaged on the flank and rear. At the
same time Bosser, with the cavalry, was to move along the
Back Road, and making a circuit around the other flank of
Sheridan's position, come in from the north and surprise the
Union cavalry in their camp. It was an excellent plan, and
in its main features it worked to a charm.
A remarkable warning of the impending danger came to
General "Wright on the 16th, in the shape of a despatch which
was brought to him, professing to be a copy of a message
signalled to General Early from the Confederate station on
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 543
Three Top Mountain and read from the flag by the Union
.signal officers. It read as follows: "To Lieut. General
Early: Be ready to move as soon as my forces join you, and
we will crush Sheridan. (Signed) Longstreet." There were
some curious things about this. As General Longstreet was
not in or near the valley, it was of course a fictitious message.
If it was actually signalled from Three Top, it must have
been a ruse. Yet it is difficult to conceive the object of
such a ruse, since the natural effect of it would be to defeat
the proposed surprise. No explanation of the mystery has
been given ; but it seems probable that the message was the
device of some unionist, on one side or the other, who took
this method of putting the Union commander on his guard.
General Wright hurried off a messenger with the despatch
to Sheridan, who was at Front Royal that night, on his
way to Washington by way of Manassas Gap. As false
alarms about Longstreet's coming had been abundant,
Sheridan did not put entire confidence in the genuine-
ness of the message. And as Secretary Stanton's request for
a personal interview had been urgent, he did not feel at
liberty to change his plan of visiting Washington. He con-
tented himself accordingly with sending back word to General
WTright to make his position strong, and be well prepared,
adding : " If Longstreet's despatch is true, and the enemy
should make an advance, I know you will defeat him." He
also countermanded an order sending Merritt's division of
cavalry on an expedition against the Virginia Central rail-
road, and ordered Merritt back to Wright.
After dark on Tuesday evening, October 18th, General
Gordon, with three divisions of infantry, his own, Eamseur's
and Pegram's, and Payne's cavalry, left the Confederate
camp at Fisher's Hill, crossed the North Fork of the Shenan-
doah, and moved to the foot of Three Top Mountain, where
he halted for several hours to give his men rest and sleep.
Starting again at one o'clock A. M., his column crept noise-
544 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
lessly around the base of the mountain, and along the bank
of the river.
At the same hour Early started forward over the turn-
pike, with Kershaw's and Wharton's divisions. His artillery
was held back on the pike at Fisher's Hill, lest its rumbling
should betray the movement, till the infantry attack opened,
when it was to gallop to the front. The field officers of
Gordon's column left their horses behind ; and in both
columns the officers were required to leave their swords and
the men their canteens, lest their rattling should alarm the
Union pickets. The weather favored the enterprise, the
night being dark and chilly and the morning shrouded by a
dense fog which delayed the daylight, and veiled all move-
ments of troops.
After passing through Strasburg, Early divided his col-
umns, sending Wharton down the pike, while with Kershaw's
division he turned off from the pike to the right, so as to
strike Sheridan's line about a mile below the turnpike bridge,
by which Wharton crossed. Early says he came in sight of
the Union picket fires at half-past three o'clock, and halted
his column for an hour, when he ordered Kershaw forward.
By this time Gordon was crossing the Shenandoah at
Mclntyre's and Bowman's fords, his men wading the stream,
which was breast high, and before five o'clock he had crept
through the Union picket line, and deployed his leading divis-
ions, unmolested, in the rear of the camp of the Eighth
corps. That so large a force should have been able to make
its way undisco vered through the Union line, showed strange
over-confidence and neglect of duty on the part of the pickets
at that point. It was said that some of the Union pickets
reported hearing a sound as of the tread of many feet, in the
night hours, but no one took or gave alarm.
Kershaw crossed Cedar Creek with equal stillness and
success, capturing a lieutenant colonel and 18 men of an Ohio
regiment, who were on picket, without firing a shot or creating
BATTLE FIELDS. OF
FISHERS HILL(Se?lM864
CEDARGREEK(Oa. 19*1864
v 0 Scale of Mites.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 545
any disturbance. When across, he quickly deployed in front
of Thoburn's division of the Eighth corps, which held the left
of the Union position. Up to this hour, about five o'clock,
the mass of Sheridan's army lay wrapped in sleep and utterly
unconscious of the blow about to fall.
The first sound of strife that broke the stillness of that
foggy October morning came from the picket line on the ex-
treme Union right, near the Back Road, under Little North
Mountain. The right of the line of infantry pickets in that
quarter was manned that morning by details from the Sixth
corps, Colonel George P. Foster of the Fourth Vermont be-
ing in charge, as corps field officer of the day. The line was
prolonged to the right by cavalry videttes. Here in the early
morning Eosser got through the line of cavalry pickets by
luring an outpost from the line by the device of an attack and
a feigned retreat. Then, passing a larger force through the
gap, he fell upon the rear of the infantry pickets. Captain J.
C. Lewis of the Eleventh Vermont was in command of the
picket reserve at the post on the extreme right ; and about
thirty men of the Eleventh and Sixth Vermont were here
taken prisoners. The larger part, however, of the infantry
pickets escaped, and forming an irregular skirmish line some
distance to the rear, held Rosser in check for hours, till, per-
ceiving from the sound of the battle behind them that the
army had fallen back, they retreated and joined it in time to
participate in the final charge of the day.
The sound of this picket firing on the right was heard by
many in the camp of the Vermont brigade ; but as it soon
diminished the men wrapped themselves in their blankets and
resumed their sleep, when they were next aroused in earnest
by the heavier and more ominous roll of musketry from the
extreme left, where Kershaw's solid lines, springing over the
parapets of Thoburn's division, woke his men with a rattling
volley. Before the latter could get into line, the rebels were
in their camp. The tents were dragged from over the heads
35
546 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of Thoburn's men and many were captured as they lay in
their blankets. Others fled without boots or hats or arms.
Many fell in behind the breastworks in soldierly order, only
to find themselves flanked and surrounded by such numbers
that resistance was folly. The line of the division was swept
instantly. Thoburn was killed and 500 of his men captured;
and seven guns, taken without firing a shot, were turned by
Kershaw on the terrified fugitives, who, leaving everything
behind save the clothing in which they had slept, poured
in disorder to the rear. The mob streamed back through the
camp of the second division of the Eighth corps, commanded
by Colonel E. B. Hayes, afterwards President of the United
States, whose troops had hastily fallen into line, when they
were struck by Gordon, who had suddenly burst out of the
woods upon their left flank. The division was composed of
troops which had done brilliant service at Winchester and
Fisher's Hill ; but the surprise, the disaster to their comrades,
and the sudden menace from two different quarters, were too
much for them. They broke at Gordon's assault, and the
entire corps, leaving its artillery, camp equipage and wagons*
went in inextricable confusion to the rear, and did no more
fighting, as an organization, that day.
This rout of the Eighth corps left the position of the
Nineteenth corps uncovered. The troops of that corps had
sprung to arms, in their camp on the right of the turnpike,
and fallen hastily into line. Some were placed in the trenches
facing Cedar Creek, and were at once under heavy fire from
Early's artillery which had now been brought up to the crest
on the other side of the creek. They were also threatened by
Wharton, who was preparing to throw his division against
them. Other portions of the corps, under the direction of
Generals Emory and Wright, were hurriedly formed at right
angles to the line of intrenchments, to face the combined
forces of Kershaw and Gordon, now sweeping up from the
flank and rear, and driving before them the demoralized
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 547
masses of the Eighth corps. Among the troops brought for-
ward for this purpose was a brigade of brave Connecticut,
Maine, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont troops, under
command of Colonel Stephen Thomas of the Eighth Vermont.
Thomas had been among the first to get his brigade into line,
and he was at once ordered forward to the left, across the
pike, to stem the rout. He moved promptly forward to the
crest of a ravine and copse of woods, a crowd of fugitives
pouring through his lines as he took position. General
Wright made an earnest effort to rally the men of the Eighth
corps on the turnpike, under this cover ; but it could not be
done, and Thomas was thus without support, in his desperate
task of checking Gordon's victorious assault. He made
several successive stands, holding the crest till his brigade
was flanked on the right and left by overwhelming numbers ;
then falling back to the pike, where the same operation was
repeated; and finally rejoining the division, with his brigade
diminished by a third — the heaviest loss suffered by any
brigade during the day. Details of this noble piece of ser-
vice will be given in the history of the Eighth Yermont.
Kershaw and Gordon now united their commands along
the turnpike ; and Early, having followed Kershaw across
the creek, directed an immediate assault upon the Nineteenth
corps. The lines of the latter were drawn up along a ridge
northwest of the pike and nearly parallel to it. The corps
made an organized and energetic stand ; but it was heavily
outnumbered. Gordon's right far overlapped and flanked
Emory's left. Brigade after brigade was enfiladed and com-
pelled to fall back to escape capture. Two of the three bat-
teries attached to the division were cut off along the crest
and were turned by their captors on Emory's disordered
lines. General Wright, bleeding from a wound in the face,
assisted by his own and the members of General Sheridan's
staff who had not accompanied the latter to Washington,
strove vigorously to rally the fugitives and hold the ground
548 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
till the Sixth corps could come up ; but it was a hopeless
effort, and seeing that Emory's left was completely turned,
General Wright ordered him to extricate his corps as best he
could and take position farther back, on the right of the Sixth
corps, with which he (Wright) would make a fresh stand a
mile to the rear.
The men of the Sixth corps, two miles to the right of
Crook, had been roused at five o'clock, like the rest, by the
firing, and listened with astonishment as it grew heavier and
heavier. Tents were struck and knapsacks packed and lines
formed in haste in order to be ready to move if necessary \
but none supposed it possible that the position of the army
could have been turned on the left, and none doubted that a
front attack would be at once repulsed. But the truth began
to break upon them, when at six o'clock orders came from
General Wright to move to the rear and take a position on
which the other corps could be rallied. The three divisions
moved at once, each by the left flank, in nearly parallel lines,
across the plain which stretched behind their camps, and
toward some higher ground near the turnpike toward Mid-
dletown. Ricketts halted his division on a wooded knoll
west of the pike, and Wheaton formed on his left, their lines of
battle being nearly parallel to the pike. Here before Emory,
who was to form on the right of the Sixth, could get his corps
in hand, and before Getty's division, which — starting from
the extreme right of the lines, had farther to march — could
form on Wheaton's left, Gordon and Kershaw attacked with
great fury the first and third divisions of the Sixth corps.
The latter checked the victorious advance of the enemy for
thirty or forty minutes. But they were heavily assaulted in
front and soon were flanked and enfiladed in succession on
the right and were forced to fall back. Some desperate re-
sistance was made before they retired, and the Tenth Ver-
mont regiment, after falling back some four hundred yards,
returned in the face of a heavy fire to rescue three guns of a
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 549
battery which had been abandoned on the crest. The guns
were saved by dragging them off by hand, and the regiment
held the crest alone for a few minutes till it was swept back
to the division line with serious loss. Six other guns, less
resolutely protected, fell into the enemy's hands about this
time, making, with those taken from the Eighth and Nine-
teenth corps, twenty-four, which had been worse than lost to
the Union army, for most of them were turned upon the Sixth
corps. These, with the forty guns brought up by Early, gave
him as heavy a preponderance of artillery as of men against
the small third of Sheridan's army now standing to their
arms. General Ricketts, commanding the corps, fell, well
nigh mortally wounded. Almost every field officer in Whea-
ton's division was killed or wounded. The losses of men
were heavy. It was plain that the lines must be withdrawn
to save them from destruction.
At this gloomy juncture, about seven o'clock in the
morning, Getty's division came into action. It had marched,
left in front, in two lines, aiming for the pike. The smoke and
fog hid everything, as it marched obliquely past the rear of
the other two divisions ; but the rolling volleys of musketry
lieard from behind the curtain of mist, told a plain story oi
fierce attack and stout resistance. Its column was already
under fire from the hostile shell flying over and around the
ranks from unseen batteries. The sights visible near the
pike were anything but reassuring. Crowds of stragglers
filled the fields, some hatless, coatless and barefoot, as they
had sprung from sleep. Few or none of these were running,
but all were pushing with rapid strides to the rear. Wagons
^nd ambulances, the latter dripping blood, were lumbering
hither and thither. Pack horses were wandering loose, and
cows, with which many of the regiments had been well supplied
since the valley was laid waste, bellowing in fright. Officers
were striving with oaths and even blows to rally the crowd,
which numbered thousands of men, with arms in their hands
550 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
but utterly without organization and intent only on getting
beyond the hissing bullets and shrieking shell. A cavalry
regiment, stretched across the the field, was making a vain
effort to stem the torrent. " It was," says an eye-witness, " a
sight which might well have demoralized the Old Guard of
the First Napoleon." But fortunately for the army the steady
heads and stout hearts of the men of Getty's division did not
fail them then, nor at any time that day. The division halted
first along the small stream of Meadow Brook, (which runs
parallel to the pike for a mile or two) taking position on the
left and a little to the rear of the First division. The enemy's
skirmishers filled, and fired briskly from, a piece of woods in
front, and General Grant was directed to throw forward a
strong line of skirmishers and clear the woods. He detached
for this duty the Fifth and Sixth Yermont regiments and
Walker's battalion of the Eleventh, all under command of
Major Enoch Johnson, who had been taken from his own
regiment, the Second, to command the Fifth. Promptly de-
ploying, the skirmishers advanced, driving out the rebels
from the timber, and halting only at the farther edge, so
far to the front that they were annoyed by the fire of the
batteries of their own division, posted behind its lines, and
portions of the skirmishers were glad to seek shelter from
it behind fences and buildings, though in so doing they
exposed themselves to the fire of the enemy. General Getty
now advanced his division in two lines across Meadow Brook,
his left almost reaching the pike in front of the village of
Middletown. Here, for the first time during the day, a
skirmish line properly guarded the Union line of battle.
The Vermonters showed their customary aptness in skirmish
duty, holding their line, though the fog made it difficult to
distinguish friend from foe, and keeping back the Confederate
skirmishers that preceded the fresh advance of Pegram's
division. As the latter came forward, the enemy's skir-
mishers sought shelter in a hollow, and soon two compact
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 551
lines of battle advanced upon the Union skirmishers, the
front line firing heavily as they came. The bullets pattered
thickly in the woods, as the Vermonters, having held back
Pegram till Getty could complete the disposition of his divi-
sion, fell back, without losing much time, for there was none
to lose, on the main line.
About this time Wheaton's division, a short distance at
Getty's right, gave way under Kershaw's assault. As Ricketts's
division had previously retired for some distance, Getty
was left to fight alone. It is related that General Crook rode
up to him to say that if he did not retreat he would sacrifice
his whole division in five minutes. But to retreat without a
fight was not in his nature. Finding, however, some more
favorable ground, a short distance behind him across Meadow
Brook, he withdrew his division thither, to a semi-circular
and partially wooded crest. The lengthening lines advanc-
ing upon him, compelled him to extend his three brigades in a
single line. The Vermont brigade formed the centre of this,
standing in an open field. On its left, at an obtuse angle, was
Bidwell's brigade, its front covered by woods, and its left
flank guarded by a cavalry battalion, deployed as skirmishers.
On the right was Warner's brigade, which had thus far formed
the second line of the division, its front partly covered by
woods. Warner's right was entirely unguarded, all other
troops having left that part of the field. So far as the Ver-
monters, at least, were concerned, there were no walls or
fences for shelter. The men lay down behind the top of the
crest, to await the coming attack. The skirmishers were
needed in the line, and most of them had barely time to take
their places in it, before the enemy was upon them. Pegram
and Ptamseur advanced their divisions in full line of battle.
Their attack fell heaviest on the left of Warner's brigade and
on the Vermont brigade. The gray lines moved steadily up,
within thirty yards of the top of the crest ; and then were
met with so withering a fire that they recoiled in disorder to
552 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the foot of the hill, and across the brook. While re-forming
their shattered lines they brought up their batteries and
endeavored with grape and shell to clear the way for a more
successful charge. But Getty's men hugged the ground
behind the crest and suffered little loss ; and when, after half
an hour's cannonade, another assault was made, it met a
similar reception. It was made in still stronger force, for
Early, finding that Eamseur and Pegram were brought to a
stand-still, had ordered forward Wharton's division, which
had not yet been engaged. Wharton's men went in eagerly,
only to receive a bloody rebuff. Advancing again through
the woods, Wharton charged the right of Bidwell's line and
the left of Grant's, with an energy which could hardly be
resisted. Bidwell's brigade began to give way, the men
retiring doggedly step by step till borne back almost to the
foot of the hill. The left regiments of the Vermont brigade,
the Sixth and Eleventh, swinging back without confusion,
maintained the continuity of the line and kept up a deadly
fire. As Bidwell was holding his men to their work, lie was
struck from his saddle by a fragment of a shell, which tore
through his lungs, inflicting a frightful and mortal wound.
There was danger that a panic would seize his troops, by
whom he was greatly respected and beloved. But the officer
who succeeded him in command, Colonel French of the
Seventy-seventh New York, sprang to the front, shouting :
" Don't run, men, till the Yermonters do." Spurred by the
loss of their general, his men rallied with fresh spirit, and
regained their lost ground, pushing the astonished Confeder-
ates back over the crest, and taking many of them prisoners,1
while the slopes and woods were filled with dead and dying
Confederates. General Grant now threw forward a fresh
skirmish line, and the division awaited the next movement
of the enemy.
1 " Wharton's division came back in some confusion."— Early's Memoir.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 553
During the interval between the two main assaults on
the hill, General Getty was notified of General Ricketts's
wound, and that the command of the corps had devolved
upon him. He accordingly turned over the command of his
division to General L. A. Grant ; and Colonel A. S. Tracy of
the Second Yermont, as the senior officer of the Vermont bri-
gade, assumed command of the latter.
Meantime Torbert's cavalry, ordered to the left by Gen-
eral Wright, were concentrating in considerable force on the
left of the turnpike, and now guarded the left of the indomit-
able division, which was still the only infantry force confront-
ing the enemy. The situation was critical in the extreme.
All the artillery of Sheridan's army, except that belonging to
the cavalry, had been captured or had gone to the rear. The
first and third divisions of the Sixth corps were over a mile
to the rear, reorganizing. The Nineteenth corps had rallied
but was still farther away ; and most of the Eighth corps, dis-
solved into a mob of stragglers, was strung along the pike
beyond Newtown. Getty's division had held the enemy in
check for over an hour, and the men were as full of fight as
ever. But its position now became one of great danger. The
artillery fire grew hotter, Early's chief of artillery having got
twenty pieces into position in its front ; and while the heavy
columns of Wharton's division were advancing against the
cavalry on its left, Kershaw was pushing his lines around
the right of Warner's brigade. General Getty, anticipating
trouble from the latter quarter, ordered Grant to withdraw
the division, unless he saw some special reason for remain-
ing. Just as the order was received by Grant, a Confederate
column, pushing through the woods, attacked Warner's
right and rear. He at once fell back ; the Vermont brigade
followed suit, and the division withdrew in good order for
half a mile to a cross road just west of Middletown. The
enemy occupied the hill in force as soon as the division
left it, and moving up his batteries kept up an incessant
654 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
fire. The division remained on the cross road for half an
hour ; but as the position had no particular value, General
Grant left the Second Vermont regiment, deployed as
skirmishers and supported by the Third, to hold the enemy
in check, and moved the division a mile farther to the
rear to another cross road and low elevation which General
Getty had selected as a better position for a final stand.
The division marched thither in line of battle and in excellent
order, and faced to the front with undiminished pluck.1 The
Vermont brigade, as before, held the centre, with Bidwell's
brigade, now under Colonel French, on the left, extending
to the pike, and Warner's on the right. A stone wall run-
ning into the woods on the right afforded protection to a por-
tion of the line, and at other points the rail fences were piled
into breastworks. But the enemy, admonished by the recep-
tion given to his previous approaches, maintained a cautious
distance.2
It was now about ten o'clock, and after four hours of
fighting and tumult, of almost unbroken success on the Con-
federate side, and of hasty flight or sullen retreat on the
part of the several Union corps and divisions which had been
in turn encountered and overwhelmed, a lull fell upon the
field. Early's troops were weary after a night of marching
and morning of fighting. His forces had become considera-
bly broken in the progress of the battle, and the ranks were
thinned not only by losses but by the absence of men who
had scattered through the Union camps after plunder. His
1 " This division [Getty's] in the hard task of retiring slowly and check-
ing the enemy at every available point, performed superb service, whose
importance to the fortunes of the day cannot be exaggerated."— Pond's
Shenandoah Valley in 1864.
"We went back quietly and in good order, a single regiment, the
Second Vermont, holding without difficulty the position we abandoned.
We carried with us all our wounded, all our shelter tents and all our per-
sonal property of every description, and the rebels did not dare to attack
us."— Three Years in the Sixth Corps.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 555
cavalry was of no account, while the Union cavalry was men-
acing his flank. He probably discovered that he was not
likely to make much further progress, and he devoted him-
self to reorganizing his lines in order to hold what he had
gained.
General Wright, on his part, was active in efforts to
retrieve the day. Getty's division was a firm nucleus, and
the third and first divisions of the Sixth corps were moving
•ap, by Getty's order, to the right of the Second. Wright was
preparing to bring up the Nineteenth corps to prolong the
line, and would soon have been fairly ready to resist further
attack. He has never admitted that he had given up the
battle, or lost hope of resuming the offensive ; but it is very
doubtful if he could have done it. The day had thus far
certainly gone very seriously against him. It is equally cer-
tain that his troops missed Sheridan, and felt as if the army
was without its head, and the ship without its pilot.
Now occurred the remarkable incident which gave to
this battle its powerful dramatic interest, and to its com-
mander the brightest laurel in his chaplet of fame. General
Sheridan, having finished his business at Washington, had
hurried back to the valley. He had reached Winchester, on
the morning of the 19th, when the sound of artillery told him
that a battle was in progress, and he started out at nine
o'clock, to find trains and troops of the broken Eighth
corps, within half a mile of the town. Giving orders to the
brigade in garrison at Winchester to form a cordon and stop
the stragglers, he started for Cedar Creek with an escort of
twenty mounted men. The story of his arrival on the field,
and of the remainder of the battle, as it was seen from the
lines of the Vermont brigade, is thus described by the author
whose graphic history of this campaign, to the success of
which he contributed the share of a brave and capable
officer, has been hitherto repeatedly quoted.1
1 Colonel A. F. Walker's ''Vermont Brigade in the Shenandoah Yalley."
556 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
" While waiting for the complete re-formation of the
army, sulkily and it is to be feared profanely growling over the
defeat in detail which we had experienced, though not in the
least disposed to admit that our division had been whipped,
in fact a little proud of what we had already done, and ex-
pecting the rebel charge which we grew more and more con-
fident we should repulse, we heard cheers behind us on the
pike. We were astounded. There we stood, driven four
miles already, quietly waiting for what might be further and
immediate disaster, while far in the rear we heard the strag-
glers and hospital bummers and the gunless artillerymen
actually cheering as though a victory had been won. We
<?ould hardly believe our ears.
"The explanation soon came, in the apparition which
Buchanan Read's as yet embryonic but now well-known poem
lias made familiar. As the sturdy, fiery Sheridan, on his
sturdy, fiery steed, flaked with foam from his two hours mad
galloping,1 wheeled from the pike and dashed down the line,
our division also broke forth into the most tumultuous
applause. Ardent General Ouster first stopped the wonder-
ful Inspirer, and kissed him before his men. His next halt
was before our own brigade. Such a scene as his presence
produced and such emotions as it awoke cannot be realized
once in a century. All outward manifestations were as
enthusiastic as men are capable of exhibiting ; cheers seemed
to come from throats of brass, and caps were thrown to the
tops of the scattering oaks ; but beneath and yet superior to
1 This famous steed " Winchester" was of Black Hawk blood — a noted
Vermont stock, — foaled in Michigan, brought into the service by an officer
of the Second Michigan cavalry, and presented to General Sheridan by the
officers of that regiment. He was ridden by General Sheridan in nearly
every battle and engagement, some forty in number, in which he took part.
He was an animal of immense strength and endurance. He lived for
thirteen years after the close of the war and till he was twenty years old.
His skin was stuffed and is preserved at the Military Service Institute,
Governor's Island, N. Y.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 557
these noisy demonstrations, there was in every heart a revul-
sion of feeling, and a pressure of emotion, beyond description.
No more doubt or chance for doubt existed ; we were safe,
perfectly and unconditionally safe, and every man knew it.
"When our greeting had somewhat subsided Colonel
Tracy, the first man in the corps to address him, rode up,
hat in hand, saying, ' General, we're glad to see you.' 'Well,,
by G — , I'm glad to be here,' exclaimed the General, 'What
troops are these ?' ' Sixth corps ! Vermont brigade !' was
shouted from the ranks. His answer was as prompt : ' All
right ! We're all right ! We'll have our camps by night !' and
he galloped on. So soon had he determined to defeat the
enemy. He soon met General Wright and ' suggested that
we would fight on Getty's line,' sending us word meanwhile
that Getty's division had out-done itself that morning.
" It was now about noon. The next hour was spent by
the General in riding through the whole command, confirm-
ing Wright's dispositions and inspiriting the troops by his
presence and his words. He thus surveyed the entire field,
and felt that he was master of the position. General Wright,
General Getty and General Grant returned to their com-
mands. Ouster's cavalry was again moved by our rear to the
right of the army. About one o'clock the Vermont brigade
was hastily taken through the woods to a point in rear of the
Nineteenth corps, where the enemy were pressing ; but the
attack was easily repulsed without our assistance. Then we
returned to a spot where we were concealed from the enemy's
view, but from which we could in a moment reach our old
position in the line, and where we quietly waited for the order
to advance. In ten minutes half the men, with genuine soldier
nonchalance, were fast asleep.
" Sheridan's plan of battle was something as follows : To
throw forward the right, Nineteenth corps and cavalry, strik-
ing the left of the enemy and turning it if possible ; to occupy
the rest of his line by a sharp attack, but especially to over-
558 VERMONT IX THE CIVIL WAR.
whelm his left, the whole army following the movement in a
grand left wheel. With this view the Sixth corps, our left,
was drawn up in one line, considerably extended, while the
Nineteenth was massed in two lines, its flank weighted by
the cavalry.
Time was consumed in making the necessary dispositions
and in distributing ammunition, so that it was nearly four
o'clock when the few guns we had remaining commenced
their usual ante-battle salute. The challenge was promptly
answered, and at the appointed time the whole line advanced
against the enemy. Their stragglers had been collected,
their line was well closed up and strongly posted, and their
advance would soon have been resumed, had not our army
taken the initiative. The long thin line of the Sixth corps
was thus hurled against a very heavy line of the enemy,1 cov-
ered throughout by a series of stone walls.
" Our own division was now the only one in our sight, the
rest of the battle commencing in the woods. So it happened
that as French's brigade, on Grant's left, General Bidwell
being absent and dying, crossed a long open field into the
line of fire that flamed from the wall before them, being
ordered to move slowly as the pivot of the army wheel, it
staggered and at last fell back to its starting place. "Warner's
troops on our right had obliqued over a hill where we could
no longer see them ; we were therefore forced to halt behind
a fortunate wall, low, and just long enough to cover our bri-
gade, where we opened fire. Directly in front of our posi-
tion were a house,2 mill, and other out-buildings, swarming
with the enemy, our only approach to which was along a nar-
row road by the side of a little mill pond formed by a dam
across our old annoyance, Meadow Run.
"French's broken brigade, seeing that we refused to
1 Ramseur's division.
SD. J. Miller's house.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 559
retire, rallied with very little delay, and again advanced to the
charge, this time by General Getty's direction on the double
quick (its commander having complained that he could not
take his men over the open field at a slower pace) and with
an apparently unanimous determination to succeed. When
they were nearly abreast of our position, being still across
the Run, our brigade poured over the wall which had covered
it, and rushed promiscuously into the cul de sac by the mill-
pond. The attack was successful, and the group of buildings,
from which the enemy fled in confusion to a wall which pro-
tected their second line, was as good a protection for us as it
had been for the rebels. The troops of our brigade were now
scattered about the grounds and out-buildings just mentioned,
some of them behind and upon two large hay-stacks, and fully
one third of the command being advanced quite a distance
farther, to the cover of a broken garden wall and among
several large trees. French was now in a capital spot, nearly
up with us, and we were still unable to see the regiments on
our right. Officers sent over the hill to reconnoitre found a
rebel line of battle and a section of their artillery nearly on
the prolongation of our line, and it was considered that we
should be doing extremely well if we were able to hold our
then position, being it will be remembered the extreme left
of the army, with a heavy force of the enemy in our front,
and even extending across the pike, where we had now no
troops except a regiment or so of Colonel Kitching's unat-
tached * provisional ' train guard, and some cavalry.
" Therefore we kept concealed as much as was consistent
with expending the full fifty rounds of ammunition consumed
in the next half hour, the rebel fire meanwhile being so hot
that we could not carry off our wounded or send for more
cartridges. At last, however, the excellence of Sheridan's
plan was proved ; a movement became apparent on the right ;
Warner's left was again seen advancing, and with a cheer we
made a final charge against the walls before us. The enemy
560 VEKMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
faced our advance but for a moment and then fled in con-
fusion ; we pursued faster and faster, only stopping to hastily
fill our cartridge boxes with captured ammunition ; the retreat
became a stampede, the pursuit became a reckless chase, and
with tumultuous cheers and throbbing hearts we crowded the
motley mob before us, on and over the miles of hill and plain
to the banks of Cedar Creek. Our formation was entirely lost,
but we had the organization and enthusiasm of recognized
success ; every man felt that it would not do to allow the
enemy to rally on this side of the stream ; the front was pre-
sently occupied by flags alone, as the more heavily loaded
troops became unable to keep up with the energetic color-
sergeants ; the strong cavalry force on our distant right were
seen charging down the field ; the rebels obliqued confusedly
and in uncontrollable dismay towards the turnpike and the
bridge ; a final attempt was made to organize a last resist-
ance on the hills that crowned the Creek, but after a feeble
volley the line melted away ; a last battery faced us with a
round of canister, but in vain. We saw the flag that followed
Sheridan, a white star on the red above a red star on the
white, flashing in the front and centre of the army, literally
leading it to victory ; the regimental standard bearers vied
with each other in an eager strife to be first in the works of
the morning, every brigade in the army afterwards claiming
the distinction, our own brigade certainly not with the least
ground of any ; and so at last we manned the intrenchments
of the Nineteenth corps, while the foe toiled up the other
bank of Cedar Creek and hastily formed a battle-line outside
our musket range. Artillery came up on the gallop and
opened vigorously. Generals exchanged congratulations
with each other and their troops. Sheridan's promise was
fulfilled again, for we had our camps as the evening fell.
" It is perhaps not surprising that sarcastic cheers and
impudent questions concerning the distance to Harper's
Ferry and the probabilities of an earlv mail saluted a few of
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 561
General Crook's officers who followed to witness our success.
The feeling was prevalent and not unreasonable that we were
indebted to them alone for our day's work, with the terrible
discomfiture of the morning; but we were afterwards con-
vinced that they had done what they could.
"Sheridan was not satisfied even yet. Ouster was ordered
to pursue the enemy still farther. We saw in the twilight
the regiments he had selected, being the First Yermont and
the Fifth New York cavalry, cross the creek at a ford a mile
above the bridge, then gradually deploy and climb the hill in
an extended line ; a volley awaited them at its summit which
was like a blaze of fire in the darkness, but the brave horse-
men did not falter, and that volley was the last.
" ' Every regiment to its camp of the morning ! ' was the
order next received, and we joyfully picked our way to our
first position. Tent poles, rude tables, and rustic couches
were found undisturbed ; a few minutes more and everything
was as it had been twenty-four hours before, save in the
absence of the fallen. Fires were lighted and the excited
men, though weary, were more ready to discuss and con-
gratulate than to sleep ; while once and anon a quiet party
would sally forth into the night to find and save some groan-
ing sufferer. The bodies of the Union troops left dead and
wounded on the field in our first retreat had been most shame-
fully plundered by the rebels, many of them lying naked on
the ground when recaptured.
" At perhaps ten p. M., a cavalry acquaintance hurried into
camp and from him we learned the sequel of the day ; how
Ouster and Davies had pushed the cavalry over Fisher's Hill
and were still in pursuit ; how all our captured cannon had
been re-taken and nearly every one of the enemy's guns had
been brought into camp by their own unwilling drivers ; how
prisoners were crowding in by hundreds and the vacant space
in front of Sheridan's headquarters had become a corral, full
of all sorts of plunder, men, guns, wagons, and mnles, upon
36
562 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
which he was wont for many days to look with grim satisfac-
tion ; how a Vermont boy had, single-handed, captured a
rebel general,1 for which he afterwards received a well-earned
decoration, naively telling Secretary Stanton at the time of
its bestowal that the Johnnies in the darkness expostulated
with him for interfering with ' the general's ' ambulance,
whereat he ' guessed the general was the very man he was
looking for ;' how in fact the turnpike had been blocked at
the foot of Fisher's Hill, and three miles of wagons and guns
were captured entire."2
1 Major General Ramseur.
2The following song was a great favorite in the Sixth corps, after they
got back to Petersburg. It was not altogether fair to the other corps,
which had done a good deal more fighting than the Sixth corps supposed ;
but that was the way the men who wore the Greek cross felt about the mat-
ter, at that time.
SONG OF THE SIXTH CORPS.
Tune — The Louisiana Lowlands.
I.
Come all ye followers of the "cross" *
Come hither every one ;
A little story I'll relate
About red Cedar Run:
At Cedar Run's fierce battlefield
The Eighth corps ran away,
The Nineteenth broke and left the Sixth
To bear the brunt that day.
CHORUS.
In the Shenandoah lowlands, lowlands,
In the Shenandoah lowlands low ;
Just watch them while I lead the charge,
Fight as a single man,
For God, their country and their cross
And Philip Sheridan.
II.
They held them, giving shot for shot.
For yell they answered yell ;
Then standing firm they faltered not
Though thickly flew the shell.
*The Greek cross, the badge of the Sixth corps.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 563
Twenty-four Confederate guns were captured , and twenty-
four Union guns, lost in the forenoon, were re-captured — a
total of 48, and of these the First Vermont cavalry brought
in twenty-three. Sheridan took 1,200 prisoners, re-took all
the captured ambulances, with fifty-six of Early's ; and of the
forty-nine Confederate battle flags sent by him to Washing-
ton at the close of the Valley campaign, a large portion were
taken here.
Early's trophies were 1,400 prisoners taken in the morn^
ing and hurried to the rear and to Richmond before they
could be re-taken. He admitted a loss of 1,860 men killed
and wounded, including some of his best officers ; and hi&
account of the battle indicates that his army was more
thoroughly routed than any army of either side since the first
Bull Run. Gordon's brigades, he says, all gave way and.
could not be rallied. Ramseur " only succeeded in retaining
with him two or three hundred men of his division." "About
the same number of Kershaw's men were rallied by a mem-
ber of his staff." " Wharton's division retired in disorder."
Above the smoke, above the fog
Their banners flamed aloft—-
They knew not how to run, those men,
Brave followers of the " cross."'1
III.
At length they yield by slow degrees ;
Outflanked, outnumbered far;
Backward they go, swept by the tide
Of stern, resistless war.
The battle how seems to be lost ;
Up rides a single man ;
One, but a host within himself,
Our gallant Sheridan.
IV.
"Come up with me, you Nineteenth, Eighth,
Come up with me, I say;
Why do you lag so far behind ?
We have not lost the day.
Come up upon this crest of hill ;
'Twill be a glorious sight ;
You won't get hurt ; you needn't fire ;
But see that Sixth corps light ! "
564 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
" Pegram succeeded in bringing back a portion of his com-
mand across Cedar Creek in an organized condition ; but this
small force soon dissolved." Early says he tried hard to rally
his men at Cedar Creek and again at Hupp's Hill, two miles
back, but could not get 500 men to stand by him. This bat-
tle was practically the end of the Valley campaign, and of
Jubal Early as a general, though, having been relieved of the
command of his own corps (which was given to Gordon), he
was permitted to retain command of a division, most of
which, with all his artillery, was captured by Sheridan's
cavalry at Waynesboro, four months later. This last catas-
trophe was the last of Early.
In the heavy losses sustained by Sheridan's army, ag-
gregating a little short of 4,000 killed and wounded, nearly
half of which were in the Sixth corps, the Vermont brigade
had a share ; — yet, considering how hotly it was engaged, and
how much fighting it did, it suffered less than might have
been expected. Its casualties were as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Missing. Died of Wounds. Total.
Second Vermont 4 33 3 6 40
Third 3 38 1 3 42
Fourth ' 6 20 3 2 29
Fifth « 2 16 3 1 21
Sixth 5 32 10 5 47
Eleventh « 10 75 21 12 106
Total, 30 214 41 29 285
Among the killed was Second Lieutenant Oscar E. Lee,
of the Eleventh, a brave and capable officer.1 Among the
wounded was Lieut. Colonel Tracy of the Second. While
in command of the brigade, shortly after Sheridan's arrival,
and while inspecting the skirmish line in front, he was struck
from his saddle by a piece of a shell, which inflicted a seri-
1 Lieutenant Lee had been appointed captain of his company three days
before his death, but his commission had not reached him. His shoulder
was torn away by a shell.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 565
ous wound in his left hip. Captains Hubbard of the Third,
Aikens of the Fourth, Kavanaugh of the Fifth, Kinney and
Kennedy of the Sixth, and E. P. Lee of the Eleventh, a
brother of Captain Oscar Lee ; Lieutenants Ferry of the
Second, Lyon of the Third, and French of the Eleventh were
also wounded in the line, together with Captain Amidon of
the Fourth and Captain Baxter of the Eleventh, who were
serving on the brigade staff.
General Getty, praise from whom always means some-
thing, says in his report that " the conduct of the officers and
men of his division was gallant and steady throughout the
day," and that he " takes just pride " in recapitulating the
service of his division in this battle.
General "Wright says in his report : " To the Sixth corps
— which it was my honor to command after the death of that
noble soldier, Sedgwick, — to its officers and men, I desire to
acknowledge the obligations, which in addition to the many
others it has imposed, it laid upon the country by its steadi-
ness, courage and discipline in this important battle. Without
disparagement to the soldierly qualities of other organizations
concerned, it is but just to claim for it a large share in the
successes of the day. Being from the nature of the attack
upon our lines somewhat in the position of a reserve force,
and therefore fairly to be called upon to turn the tide of un-
successful battle, it came up nobly to its duty, fully sustain-
ing its former well earned laurels."
General Sheridan, in his report, says : " On arriving at
the front I found Merritt's and Custer's divisions of cavalry
under Torbert, and General Getty's division of the Sixth
corps opposing the enemy. I suggested to General Wright
that we would fight on Getty's line. * * * Getty's
division of the Sixth corps and Merritt's and Custer's divis-
ions of cavalry confronted the enemy from the first attack in
the morning until the battle was decided." These were the
only troops engaged of which this could be said.
566 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
When, three weeks later, General Sheridan, who had
been made a brigadier general in the regular army after
Winchester, was appointed major general in the regular army,
the promotion was declared, in terms dictated by Abraham
Lincoln, to be " for the personal gallantry, military skill and
confidence in the courage and patriotism of your troops dis-
played by you on the 19th day of October, at Cedar Run,
whereby, under the blessing of Providence, your routed army
was reorganized, a great national disaster averted, and a
brilliant victory achieved over the rebels for the third time
in pitched battle within thirty days."
Mr. Lincoln did not confine his remembrance and recog-
nition to the commander of the army. Many of the subordi-
nate officers of the army of the Shenandoah received promo-
tion, either actual or by brevet, among the number being
eight officers of the Vermont brigade who received com-
missions signed by the President, advancing each a grade by
brevet for " meritorious service." '
The brigade remained in its camp on the left bank of
Cedar Creek for two days after the battle; and then was
transferred, with the rest of Getty's division, to the village of
Strasburg, with picket outposts thrown out to Fisher's Hill.
Here, in excellent quarters in the houses of the village, the
brigade remained for two weeks. General Early retreated to
New Market, where he was reinforced by a brigade from
Breckenridge's department, and by considerable numbers of
conscripts and convalescents. He had got enough of fighting,
however, and each army lay quiet, with the exception of the
cavalry, who were sharply engaged at Milford, in the Luray
Valley, October 26th.
On the 8th of November, the Presidential election took
1 These were Colonels George P. Foster and James M. Warner, brevetted
as brigadier generals; Major Enoch E. Johnson and Major A. F. Walker,
as lieutenant colonels ; Lieut. Colonel Floyd, as colonel ; Captain E. Wales
and J. E. Eldredge, as majors ; and Lieutenant H. C. Baxter as captain.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 567
place, and the Vermont soldiers voted in their camps, giving
Lincoln a majority in the brigade of 416, out of 1,112 votes
cast. The Second and Fourth regiments gave majorities for
McClellan, who was still a favorite with many veterans. On*.
the 9th of November, Sheridan withdrew his army to Kerns-
town, to be nearer his base. The railroad was repaired from
Harper's Ferry to Stevenson's Depot, (six miles from camp)
which now became the base of supply ; and hay was issued
for the horses for the first time in six months.
The Vermont brigade marched with the division and
the army from Strasburg, November 9th, to Newtown, and'
thence to Kernstown on the 10th. Thinking that Sheridan's
movement indicated the detachment of troops to Peters-
burg, Early followed up his rear, and Sheridan on the 12th
prepared for battle. The cavalry, however, only, were en-
gaged, Merritt and Ouster driving Eosser back over the Back
and Middle Eoads across Cedar Creek, while Powell routed
McCausland's brigade at Stony Point. The latter lost two
guns and 250 men. Early returned to New Market on the
14th, and revisited the lower Shenandoah Valley no more.
So ended this memorable campaign. Officers and men
of the Vermont brigade had every reason to be well content
with their record in it. In his report of the battle of the
Opequan, the brigade commander, Colonel Warner, said that
to specify the officers who distinguished themselves in action
would be to give a roster of the commissioned officers of the
brigade. The same might be said of them in each subse-
quent battle, and the men fulfilled their part as well as the
officers did theirs.
The Sixth corps remained at Kernstown for a month
without any service being required of the troops more arduous
than light outpost and picket duty, for which formal guard-
mountings were resumed, and brigade dress parades at evening.
The men made their quarters comfortable ; the troops were
paid off; the sutlers rejoined the army with supplies of salt
568 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
mackerel and gingerbread ; Thanksgiving day, on the 24th,
brought barrels of turkeys and mince pies from Vermont;
the weather was generally fine ; the sick lists were small,
and the troops enjoyed their four weeks' stay in " Camp
Eussell," and hoped it might be prolonged through the
winter; and that in any case they should not be returned to
Petersburg.
On the 21st of November, the corps was reviewed by
General Sheridan. It turned out in large numbers, and the
parade was conducted with much spirit in spite of a rain
storm which somewhat dampened the enthusiasm of the
troops. As December opened, the weather became wintry,
and as campaigning had ended in the valley, General Grant
recalled the Sixth corps, while Lee at the same time with-
drew Early's corps, now under Gordon, to his lines in front
of Petersburg. The divisions of the Sixth corps moved suc-
cessively, Getty's remaining till the last. On the 9th of
December, five months to a day since the brigade left Peters-
burg, the Yermont brigade broke camp, marched to Steven-
son's Depot, took train in a driving snow storm in the after-
noon, and that evening, in the darkness and tempest, left the
Hiienandoah Valley, by way of Harper's Ferry, not to return.
CHAPTER XIX
Return to Petersburg — The Winter of 1864-5 m the Trenches — Capture and
Re-capture of Fort Steclman — Capture of the Enemy's Intrenched
Picket Line by the Sixth Corps— Action and Casualties of the Vermont
Brigade— Arduous Picket Duty— The Final Grand Assault— The Ver-
mont Brigade heads the Entering Wedge of the Sixth Corps — The Ver-
monters storm the Works in their Front, capture Nineteen Guns and
Many Prisoners, and Push in to Lee's Headquarters — Getty's Division
takes Three Miles of Works— Casualties of the Vermont Regiments —
Fall of Richmond and Closing Scenes of the War— Pursuit of Lee —
Last Skirmish at Sailor's Creek — The Surrender at Appomattox — Last
Marches and Reviews of the Brigade — General Grant's Farewell Ad-
dress—The Final Muster Out.
The brigade went to Washington by rail, and found the
ride, which occupied a night and half a day, a severe experi-
ence. The night was very cold. The men were in open coal
cars, and suffered greatly from cold and exposure to the storm.
At 2 P. M. of December 10th the brigade arrived at Washing-
ton and at once embarked on transports for City Point,
where it landed on Monday, December 12th. During its ab-
sence important advantages had been gained by the army of
the Potomac in front of Petersburg, prominent among which
was the storming of Fort Harrison, by Stannard's division of
the Eighteenth corps, in September ; and the military rail-
road, connecting with the Petersburg and City Point railroad
and passing along the rear of the Union lines, south of
Petersburg, had been built. By this the division was taken
on the 12th to the left of the lines beyond the Weldon rail-
road. Here, near the scene of the unfortunate affair of the
24th of June, the brigade bivouacked for one night. Next
day it moved west about a mile and a half into the works on
570 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the right of the Squirrel Level road, relieving troops of the
Second corps, which were moved farther to the left.
The Sixth corps, when here concentrated, occupied some
two miles of the works, extending west from the Weldon
Railroad to within three miles of the Southside Railroad,
which was one of the two remaining lines of railroad connect-
ing the Southern States with the Confederate capital. This
portion of the works faced to the northeast toward Peters-
burg. To the left of it, the Union lines bent to the south,
almost at a right angle, extending southwest for three miles
or more, parallel with the Confederate lines, which stretched
midway between the Union lines and the Boydton Plank
Road.1
For months the Confederates had been strengthening
their works and adding additional defences, till before the
close of the winter their works extended from the river, north-
east of Petersburg, round to Hatcher's Run on the southwest,
with a front of 17 miles. They consisted of an outer line of
earthworks, connected by breastworks, the latter revetted
with logs, having a deep ditch in front, and further protected
by lines of abatis, chevaux de frise and fraise. Batteries, at
frequent intervals, swept the approaches with a cross fire,
and rifle pits protected the picket lines in front. The results
of the various attacks which had been made upon these
works had not been such as to encourage further attempts,
and they were regarded as well nigh impregnable. Within
these was a second line of forts and redans, connected by
breastworks, surrounding Petersburg in a line from one to
two miles distant from the city. The Union works encircled
the outer Confederate line, at varying distances according to
the nature of the ground, and consisted like the latter of re-
doubts built at intervals of half a mile or more, connected by
single and in some places double lines of rifle pits. The por-
1 Called by some Southern writers the Bowdtoin Plank road.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 571
tion manned by the Vermont brigade was between Forts
Tracy and Urmston, which were built and strengthened dur-
ing the winter, the regiments being stationed in the following
order from right to left : Second, Eleventh, Fifth, Sixth,
Third, Fourth. A line of pickets was kept out about half a
mile in front, in close proximity to the rebel pickets. The
corps of A. P. Hill occupied the Confederate works in
front.
After the failure of the affair of the Mine, on the 30th of
July, efforts to carry Petersburg by direct assault had been
abandoned by the Union generals ; and the extensions of
Lieut. General Grant's lines to the southwest had met
with such persistent opposition that it was plain that no
decisive result of siege operations could be expected before
spring. The troops made themselves comfortable with un-
usual care, by building warm huts of split pine logs, while
the officers' quarters and hospitals were fitted up with especial
care. The details for picket duty were large ; and as the
winter was one of unusual severity, the duty on the picket
lines was full of hardship. By mutual consent, however,
there was little or no firing on the picket lines. The opposing
pickets often shouted to each other in not unfriendly conver-
sation ; and there were meetings for exchange of coffee and
tobacco and even for impromptu card parties between the lines.
The daily details for fatigue duty on the forts and works were
also large, and comparatively little attention was given to
drills. Once in a while a night alarm called all hands to
arms. On one night in particular, in December, following the
receipt of news that Sherman had reached the sea and taken
Savannah, the pickets along the other portions of the lines
were firing all night under special orders. The men on each
side, however, took the friendly precaution of notifying those
on the other when they were about to fire. Along the front
of the Sixth corps, however, there was no firing at this time,
but instead a good deal of talking between the opposing
572 VERMONT IN TEE CIVIL WAR
pickets, the rebels being especially curious to know what all
the cheering on the Union side, these clays, was for.
This life in the trenches was of course in strong con-
trast with the campaigning in green fields and pleasant
groves, the milk and honey and grapes, as well as with the
pitched battles, of the Valley campaign. Around the camp-
fires the men never tired of recalling the good things, and
recounting the exploits, of their service under Sheridan.
The appearance of new batteries and earthworks from time
to time along the enemy's lines, showed how industriously
Loe was strengthening his position ; but any discouragement
on the part of his besiegers on that account was counterbal-
anced by the reports brought in by the numerous deserters,
of destitution within their camps. The pinched faces and
insufficient clothing of many of the deserters confirmed their
statements of distress, especially during the first part of the
winter. After that the Confederate commissariat improved;
and the establishment of reserve depots of provisions at Rich-
mond, Lynchburg and Danville enabled Lee to feed his
soldiers better.
During the closing months of the year the thinned ranks
of the Yermont brigade, which had been reduced to 1,800
effective men at the close of the campaign in the Valley, were
strengthened by the return of a number of convalescents,
and at the opening of the year 1865, the morning reports
gave an aggregate of 2,436 officers and men present for duty.
Major Enoch E. Johnson commanded the Second regiment
in the absence of Lieut. Colonel Tracy ; Lieut. Colonel
Horace W. Floyd, the Third ; Colonel George P. Foster, the
Fourth; Major Eugene O. Cole, the Fifth ; Major Sumner H.
Lincoln, the Sixth, and Lieut. Colonel Hunsdon the Eleventh.
The sick list of the brigade was large, aggregating 1349,
or one sick man for every two well ones ; but the troops
were well supplied by the military railroad, which had been
extended to Patrick's Station, in the rear of the quarters of
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 573
the brigade ; and such active operations as were conducted
in front of Petersburg fell, for the time, to other troops.
Early in February, the headquarters flag of the brigade,1
torn to tatters by shot and shell, was transmitted to Adjutant
General Washburn of Vermont, by General L. A. Grant, with
a list of sixteen battles through which it had been carried
without dishonor and in which 3,116 Yermonters had been
killed and wounded, under it.
On the 6th of February, the Union lines were extended
to the left, to Hatcher's Kun, after a fight in which the Fifth
corps lost about 1,2CO men, and the enemy nearly an equal
number. The left of the lines of the Sixth corps was also
advanced, taking the enemy's intrenchments at Fort Fisher
and the signal tower on a height to the left of the Yermont
brigade. The brigade remained in the works to the left of
Fort Tracy, through February and March. The friendly un-
derstanding between the Confederate and Union pickets con-
tinued, and chopping parties of the two armies, cutting wood
for the camp fires, sometimes mingled freely. As the winter
wore on deserters came in in increasing numbers. One night
an entire company, 34 in number, of North Carolina troops,
leaving their captain asleep at the outpost, came in and gave
themselves up ; and on one day in February, no less than
seventy-nine deserters came in to the lines of the Sixth corps,
one party bringing with them a mule team.3
Beyond doubt, it was a gloomy time behind the Con-
federate lines, during the month of March. General Sherman,
1 A triangle of blue, with the white cross of the Division in the centre.
'February 24th, General Lee, in a report to President Davis, said:
" Since the 12th inst. the desertions in two divisions of Hill's corps amount
to about 400." On the 25th, he said: "Hundreds of men are deserting
nightly." On the 28th, he reported " 1,200 more desertions." ** These
men," he added, "generally went off in bands, taking arms and ammuni-
tion. The greatest number of desertions have occurred among the
North Carolina troops, who have fought as gallantly as any."
574 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
having occupied Columbia and Charleston, S. C., was marching
north through North Carolina. Sheridan, starting from the
valley with 10,000 sabres, had swept around the west and
north of Richmond, destroyed the James River Canal, and,
breaking up all the railroad tracks and bridges along his
route, had joined the Army of the Potomac. Thomas was
organizing important offensive operations in East Tennes-
see. Canby was moving against Mobile. Pope was organiz-
ing a spring campaign west of the Mississippi.
It was becoming plain to well informed observers on
both sides that the end was approaching. On the 2d of
March, General Lee addressed a letter to General Grant, pro-
posing to meet him to discuss an "adjustment of the present
unhappy difficulties," and a method of closing the war, by
means of a " military convention." This meeting was de-
clined by Grant, under orders from President Lincoln (to
whom the request was referred) to hold no conference with
Lee, except for the surrender of the latter's army. Nothing
remained for Lee, but to fight the thing out. He still had
70,000 men around Richmond. If, abandoning the Confeder-
ate capital, he could effect a junction with General Johnston,
who, with an army of 25,000 men was opposing Sherman's
northern march, the war might possibly be prolonged. In
anxious consultations with President Davis, it was deter-
mined that as soon as the condition of the roads should
permit, the Army of Northern Virginia should make a push
for Danville, Va.; unite with Johnston ; attack and destroy
Sherman ; and then turn to confront Grant, while the seat
of the Confederate government should be established farther
south.
Anticipating such an abandonment of Petersburg and
Richmond, General Grant, on the 25th of March, issued
orders for a movement around Lee's right in order to cut off
the Southside and Danville railroads, hem Lee in his works,
and compel either his surrender or a pitched battle. The
THE FIEST BRIGADE. 575
two movements were in preparation, on the opposing sides,
at the same time. That on the part of the enemy began by
a formidable sortie against the works on Grant's right, by
which Lee doubtless hoped to induce Grant to draw in his
left, and leave the way more open to the west. It was made
by General Gordon, before daylight on March 25th, and was
an entire failure. His storming columns indeed carried
Fort Stedman,1 and batteries 10, 11 and 12 on each side of
it ; but they were repulsed from the forts on the right and
and left of Fort Stedman. Their retreat from the latter was
cut off by the troops of the Ninth corps, and before eight
o'clock that morning the works were all recaptured and the
Union lines fully restored. Gordon left 1,949 of his men
prisoners in the hands of the Ninth corps, and took away 120
bodies of his dead, under a nag of truce.
Generals Grant and Meade were at the headquarters of
the former, at City Point, when word of the capture of Fort
Stedman came to them, by courier, Gordon's men having cut
the telegraph wires. They surmised that the sortie might
mean that Lee was leaving ; and General Meade, on his
return to the front, whither he hurried at once, ordered
Generals Wright and Humphreys to push out and feel of
the enemy and take advantage of any change, if the enemy
had been moving troops from that part of his lines.2 This
was not the case ; but nevertheless Wright and Humphreys
secured an important advantage in that quarter. As the Ver-
mont troops took part at three points in this transaction,
" Petersburg, March 25th," is properly included in the offi-
cial lists of the battles and engagements of the Vermont
1 This was one of the redans on the east of Petersburg which were
carried by Brooks's division, and Stannard's brigade of the Eighteenth corps,
in June 1864.
2 General Humphreys had anticipated this order and sent out some
strong reconnoisances.
576 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAB.
regiments. The details relating to their share of it were as
follows :
The firing around Fort Stedman, before daybreak aroused
the troops all along the lines ; and though seven miles away,
the Vermonters stood to arms with the rest of the Sixth corps.
They stacked arms when word came that the
Ninth corps had re-established its line ; but re-
mained in line till about noon, when orders came to be ready
to move. Tents were quickly struck and knapsacks packed ;
for the advance might be part of a general movement of the
army. At about three o'clock p. M. the picket line of the
the third division (now commanded by General Truman Sey-
mour, a native Yermonter) in front of Forts Fisher and Welch,
composed of men of the Tenth Vermont and Fourteenth New
Jersey, supported by two Ohio regiments, all under command
of Lieut. Colonel Damon of the Tenth Yermont regiment,
who relieved the division field officer of the day for the pur-
pose, advanced against the opposing picket line, nearly a
mile long. The Union skirmishers were met by a sharp fire
of musketry, from the rifle-pits in front, and of artillery from
the Confederate forts and batteries farther back, and though
they reached the enemy's rifle-pits at several points, the sup-
ports could not be brought up, and the attack failed. Damon
brought back his men in good order to the line from which
they started, and they formed a part of the skirmish line
for the fresh assault which was now ordered. General Getty
was directed to make this with his division, assisted by
Keifer's brigade of the third division. Getty's command
filed out of the works and formed rapidly in front and to
the left of Fort Fisher, under a lively artillery fire from the
enemy's batteries to the left, to which the guns of the Third
Yermont battery in Fort Fisher, firing over the heads of the
Yermont troops, and the artillery in Fort Welch, replied.
The Yermont brigade formed the left of the attacking force,
disposed in three lines, the first line consisting of the Second
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 577
and Sixth regiments, the second line of the two battalions
of the Eleventh, and the third line of the Third, Fourth and
Fifth regiments.
At four o'clock, the waving of a flag from Fort Fisher,
from the parapet of which General Wright superintended
the movement, gave the signal for the advance, and the lines
moved forward. The enemy's artillery played upon them
with redoubled activity, and the firing was continuous from
the rifle pits in front; but dashing forward on the double
quick the brigade reached and with a cheer swept over the
breastworks, planted its colors in the trenches, and captured
most of the enemy's pickets posted in them. Hyde's and
Keifer's brigades in like manner carried the rifle pits to the
right of those taken by the Vermonters ; and the men, lying
down under the scarp of the captured breastworks, obtained
cover from the enemy's artillery, which almost enfiladed the
line.
The Second Vermont regiment with a company of the
Eleventh pushed on from the captured line to the Jones
house, a quarter of a mile farther ; but as the rest of the brig-
ade had halted at the rifle pits, Lieut. Colonel Tracy brought
his command back to them. The Jones house was subse-
quently occupied by the enemy's sharpshooters, when a
detachment of men from Companies D., H. and F. of the
Second was sent forward under Captain W. B. Hurlburt,
which drove out the Confederates and burned the house. A
section of the Third Vermont battery was advanced to the
captured works ; and though General Hill made several
vigorous efforts to re-take them, by moving out strong
bodies of troops at various points, the latter were everywhere
repulsed with loss. The Second corps, in like manner,
carried about half a mile of rifle pits on the left of those
taken by Getty.
During the last attempt of the enemy to re-take the por-
tion of the line taken by the Second corps, about sunset, a
37
578 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
detachment of 150 men of the Fifth regiment, under Major
Cole, was sent to report to Lieut. Colonel Damon of the
Tenth, who with them and a section of a battery was directed
to dislodge a party of the enemy posted in and about a house,
to the left of the line of the Sixth corps, who were annoying
the latter. This service was performed, the house being
riddled with shot and shell and the enemy's sharpshooters
driven from it, when the detachment returned to the line.
After nightfall the breastworks were reversed, and the
captured intrenchments, a mile and a half long, were perma-
nently held by the Union troops.
Of 905 Confederates taken in the rifle pits that after-
noon, 547, a large share of whom surrendered to the Ver-
monters, were captured by Getty's command. The full im-
portance of this brilliant affair was seen eight days later ; for
it was on the ground control of which was thus gained, that
Getty's division was formed for the final victorious assault ;
and there is as high authority as General A. A. Humphreys
for the statement that " it was this capture of the intrenched
picket line of the enemy that made it practicable for General
"Wright to carry the enemy's main line of intrenchments by
assault on the morning of the 2d of April."
The loss of the brigade was small, the rapidity with
which the movement was made rendering the enemy's mus-
ketry fire less effective, while his artillery, though vigorously
served, was firing at long range and did comparatively slight
damage to the troops. The casualties were as follows :
Killed. Wounded. Total.
Second Vermont regiment, 2 8 10
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Eleventh
033
022
178
0 1 1
1 12 13
Total, 4 33 37
One man of the Fifth and two of the Eleventh died of
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 579
their wounds. In the operations on his left and right this
day, Lee lost 1,000 men killed and wounded, and 3,000 taken
prisoners. Getty lost 450 killed and wounded, the Second
corps 700, and the Ninth 800.
From the advanced ground thus gained by Getty's divi-
sion, the works of the enemy's main line, about seven hundred
yards away, could be distinctly surveyed. They consisted of
strong redans, connected by heavy breastworks, revetted and
surmounted by logs. In front of these was a deep ditch,
guarded by two and often three well constructed lines of
abatis, between which bristled a fraise of sharpened stakes.
The general appearance of these works was not calculated to
encourage assaults ; and the uneasiness of the enemy indi-
cated that the utmost vigilance would be necessary in order
to hold the vantage ground already gained. Strict orders
were issued to the Union pickets and no sleep was permitted
to the picket reserves. Skirmishes were frequent along the
picket lines. In one of these, before daybreak on the 27th, the
Vermont brigade was put under arms and portions of every
regiment were engaged. The attacking party was repulsed
with loss, after having broken into the line and captured four
men of the Fourth regiment and 22 of the Eleventh. Twenty-
three men were wounded in thte affair, the Second, Tenth and
Eleventh regiments each having five men hurt, the Third one,
and the Fifth seven. One officer, Lieutenant Carlton of the
Fourth, was wounded.
On the 28th of March a notable meeting took place at
Gen. Grant's headquarters at City Point. President Lincoln
had come thither from Washington to encourage rather than
to direct. General Sherman was there, having come up from
Goldsboro, N. C., to consult the General-in-Chief. General
Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, and General
Sheridan, just arrived from his last cavalry expedition, were
also present. The conference developed no conflict of views
or reason for modifying General Grant's plan for a movement
580 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
from his left, around the right of Lee's lines, and it began, as
previously ordered, on the 29th.
Starting early in the morning of that day, the Second
and Fifth Corps moved by the left and rear to the south-
west, crossed Hatcher's Run without opposition, and then
turning northward moved toward the White Oak road
and the extreme right of Lee's intrenchments. Sheridan,
at the same time, with the Cavalry corps, marching with
a wider sweep to the south, moved to and occupied Dinwiddie
Court House, six miles south of the White Oak road. Next
day, in spite of a pouring rain which turned the whole country
into a swamp, the infantry were pushed up toward the White
Oak road, while Sheridan demonstrated toward Five Forks,
four miles east of Lee's right. Lee met these movements
by sending Fitz Hugh Lee's cavalry and Picketts's division
of infantry, each about 6,000 strong, to Five Forks, where
they fortified their position with great activity by night
and day. Sheridan saw the opportunity to cut off and
capture Pickett. For this he would need some infantry,
and he knew what troops he wanted. He sent word to
Grant : " I could with the Sixth Corps turn the enemy's right,
or break through his lines ; but I would not like the Fifth
Corps to make such an attempt." Grant replied : "It will be
impossible to give you the Sixth Corps. It is the centre of
our line ; besides Wright thinks he can go throiigh the line
where he is, and it is desirable to have troops and a commander
there who feel so." So Sheridan took the Fifth Corps, and
with thai and his cavalry, on the 1st of April, the battle of
Five Forks was fought and won by Sheridan and Warren.
Pickett was routed with the loss of six guns and of half his
corps captured. The rest of his command, cut off from
Petersburg, fled to the west, pursued till nightfall by the
Union infantry and cavalry; but favored by the darkness
they finally made their way, by a circuit to the north, to the
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 581
cover of some intrenchments and of troops sent out by Lee
to meet them.
A general bombardment of the enemy's lines was ordered
by General Grant as soon as the news of Sheridan's success
reached him ; and all through the night, the flashes of cannon
and of bursting shells lit up the opposing lines, — a grim pre-
lude to the grand assault which was ordered for four o'clock
the next morning.
THE FINAL ASSAULT ON THE LINES OF PETERSBURG. .
This had been in preparation for three days ; and, as
Grant's reply to Sheridan shows, the Sixth Corps was chiefly
relied on to go through Lee's lines. The Ninth Corps was
also ordered to attack on the right, and Humphreys and Ord
were to push in on the left if they found the enemy leaving
their front. General "Wright had been eager to attack for
some days, and had promised General Meade that he ''would
make the fur fly " when he got the word. "If the corps does
as well as I expect," he said, " we will have broken through
the rebel lines in fifteen minutes from the word go." " I
like the way Wright talks," said Grant, "and I heartily
approve."
General Wright selected Getty's division for the assault-
ing column ; and General Getty gave the Vermont brigade
the honor of guiding and leading the column. That these selec-
tions were not owing to any accident of position is evident
from the fact that the point selected for the assault was over
a mile to the left of the portion of the Union lines occupied
by the division ; and it was marched thither past thousands
of other troops. As for the brigade, it had fairly earned the
right to this crowning opportunity. How it improved it, will
be seen.
The morning report of the brigade for the 1st of April,
582 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
showed a total of 2,209 officers and men present for duty.1
Lieut. Colonel Tracy, having returned to his regiment, was in
command of the Second. Lieut. Colonel Floyd commanded
the Third. In the absence of Colonel Foster, who was at
home on leave of absence, and of Major Pratt, who was a
paroled prisoner, the Fourth was commanded by the senior
Captain, George H. Amidon. .The Fifth was commanded by
Lieut. Colonel Kennedy; the Sixth by Major Sperry, Lieut.
Colonel Lincoln being ill with fever ; and the Eleventh by
Lieut. Colonel Hunsdon.
The portion of the enemy's line to be assaulted by the
division was determined after careful consideration, based on
examination and reports of several general officers. It ex-
tended from a point back of the Jones House, to a point
opposite the left of the line of the Sixth corps, in front of
Forts Fisher and Welch. The character of the intrenchments
to be stormed has been already described. They were held
at that point by Davis's and McComb's brigades, of Heth's
division of A. P. Hill's corps. The precise point of attack
was first suggested by General L. A. Grant. General Grant's
statement in regard to this is as follows :
" I had discovered to our left and front and a little to
the left of Fort Fisher, that there was an opening in the
rebel works, at a ravine, in which water flowed and which had
been filled with a thick growth of pine timber. This timber
in front had recently been cut away by the rebels for fire-
wood, which disclosed the fact that the works did not cross
the ravine. The breastworks and abatis came down on either
side, leaving a space of about two rods, thickly dotted with
pine stumps. A few rods to the right of the ravine was a
small opening in the abatis, which had been made for teams
to come out for wood. Knowing that a vulnerable point of
attack was sought for, I called General Getty's attention to
1 Over 1,500 being sick, absent on leave, or on detached duty.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 583
tliis place, and he in turn called the attention of Generals
Wright and Meade. All came down and we went out together
to examine it as well as could be done at a distance. It was
decided to make this the point of attack, and the Old (Ver-
mont) brigade was selected to form the entering wedge, and
to lead the attack. Orders were given the night previous
for my brigade to move out at twelve o'clock, and to tak&
the position that I might select as most favorable for the pur-
pose ; and for the other troops to follow." About midnight the
brigade left its camp, without knapsacks and with uncapped
guns, and moving silently to the left, passed out over the'
breastworks to the right of Fort Welch, and through open-
ings in the abatis made for the purpose, and thence moved
into position, upon ground selected personally by General L.
A. Grant, close in the rear of the portion of the captured
picket line, and facing the foot of the ravine. The other two
brigades of the division followed and took position on the
right of Grant. Seymour's division was in support, to the
left and rear of the Vermont brigade.
The Vermont brigade was closed in mass, by battalion,
in the following order from front to rear : Fifth, Second,
Sixth, Fourth, Third, Second battalion Eleventh, First bat-
talion Eleventh. Axe-men to cut away the opposing abatis
were placed in the front line, and artillerymen with rammers
and primers with which to turn and serve captured cannon,
accompanied the column. As the enemy's picket line was
not over three hundi-ed yards away, officers and men were
ordered to hug the ground and preserve the utmost silence
till the order to advance should be given. The regiments of
the brigade were directed, after gaining the enemy's works,
to advance to and deploy upon a crest beyond the works, in
order to prevent trouble from any hostile reinforcements
which might be formed under cover of this elevation, for an
effort to retake the works. Strict orders were given to all
the troops to charge without firing, and not to pursue after
584 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
carrying the enemy's works ; but to halt, re-form and await
further orders.1
About 2 o'clock A. M., and while some of the troops of
the other brigades were moving into position, the pickets in
front, by some mischance or owing to an ill-judged order,
unfortunately commenced firing. This brought a vigorous
return from the enemy's skirmishers, which took serious effect
on the massed troops lying on the ground or moving up to
position in the darkness, and threatened for a few moments
to endanger the whole plan, by precipitating the fighting ;
but though many casualties occurred, especially in Hyde's
brigade, the officers held back their commands, and the men
took their wounds without uttering word or firing shot.
During this firing, and shortly before the signal for the
advance was given, General L. A. Grant, while lying on the
ground with his staff, heads to the front, behind the last line
of the brigade, was struck in the left side of his head by a
minie ball, which cut through his hat and scalp, but fortun-
ately glanced from the skull without inflicting a mortal injury.
It stunned him for the time being, and he was taken to the
roar, and Lieut. Colonel Tracy assumed command of the
brigade.
For some three hours, the troops awaited daylight and
the order to advance. The night was very dark, the night-
air chilly and raw, and the ground on which the men were
stretched damp. They lay shivering and almost benumbed,
listening for the signal gun. In front all became still on the
enemy's lines ; but from the right came the distant sounds
of artillery from the lines of the Ninth Corps.
At four o'clock, the hour fixed for the assault, it was still
too dark for the men to see their way ; but half an hour later,
"The orders were read at the head of every company, and I am told
that the remark was frequent among the men : ' Well, good-by, boys. This
means death.' Full well the officers and veterans realized that they were
undertaking a forlorn hope."— C«pt. Hazard Stevens, of Getty's staff.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 585
the signal gun was fired from Fort Fisher by the Third Ver-
mont battery. Heavy cannonading was still going on in
front of the Ninth corps at the time, and the signal was not
distinguished. Within ten minutes, however, Colonel Tracy
learned that it had been given, and promptly gave the order
to advance. The troops sprang to their feet, started for-
ward as rapidly as could have been expected of men who for
hours had been lying motionless and chilled by the night
damps, sprang over the rifle-pits in front of them, and
pressed resolutely to the assault. The brigades on right
and left, which had waited for the Yermonters, started,
as soon as the Vermont brigade was well under way;
and the other two divisions of the Sixth corps, farther back,
followed, the whole forming a mighty wedge of 14,000 men.
Steadily and silently the columns moved onward till the
heads of them had traversed about two-thirds of the distance
between the opposing picket lines, when the enemy's pickets,
discovering the movement, opened a scattering fire, which
flashed at intervals along the front for a minute, and then
ceased as the Confederate skirmishers fled to the works
behind them. Silence was of course no longer necessary
in the charging columns; and the response to the volley
was a cheer which rose mightily on the still air and, in
the words of Major Merritt Barber, assistant adjutant gen-
eral of the brigade, whose graphic report of this day's work
leaves little to be supplied by the historian, "told to friend
and foe that the Sixth corps was on the charge." The cheer
was followed by an impetuous rush for the enemy's works,
undefined in the dim twilight, but soon to be outlined with
fire, as the startled enemy, manning his breastworks, opened
a heavy rolling fire of musketry from a front of half a mile,
to which was soon added the broader flashes and heavier
sounds of his artillery, and the rush and whiz of hostile mis-
siles, as shrapnel and grape and canister hurtled through the
air and swept the ground. Coming largely from the left the
586 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
artillery fire both crossed and enfiladed the lines, and the col-
umns wavered and portions halted. But only for a moment.
Encouraged by their officers and headed by the leading spirits
in each organization, the men started on with a rush which
soon carried them for the most part beyond the line of the
artillery fire, and they had only the musketry to face. Offi-
cers and men vied with each other in the race for the
works, and all organization was lost in the eagerness and
enthusiasm of the troops. The lines of abatis were reached
and brushed away like cobwebs, and the men, cheering
like mad, dashed through the ditch and poured over the
works in a resistless torrent. The first man, as it is confi-
dently believed, to spring down from the parapet into the
ranks which defended the works was Captain Charles G.
Gould of the Fifth Vermont. That regiment led the col-
umn, and Captain Gould's company was next to the extreme
left company in the regimental line. Under shouted orders
to " bear to the left," coming from whom or for what pur-
pose does not distinctly appear, that portion of the regiment
became separated from the rest, and moved to the left, out of
the ravine. Here the enemy's intrenchments projected at an
angle, bringing the works at that point somewhat nearer to the
head of the column than those directly in front. There was-
as yet not light enough to disclose the points most open to
attack ; but the enemy's artillery was firing from the angle,
and rallying a handful of men, and followed by Lieutenant
Pratt of his company and by Color Sergeant Jackson Sargent,
with the regimental colors, Gould made a dash for the bat-
tery, pushed through the abatis, made his way through the
ditch, mounted the parapet, and sprang inside the works.
In the melee which followed he was bayonetted in his face
and back, and received a sabre cut in the head, but killed his
first assailant before he was placed hors de combat. He was
followed by a few men of the Fifth, and with the assistance
of some of the Sixth regiment, the angle, with two guns
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 587
planted in it, was taken, its defenders scattering to the rear.
About the same time the work on the right of the ravine, with
four guns, was taken, principally by the Second Vermont
regiment, and the brigade swarmed over the breastworks in
a tumultuous mass — men of each regiment afterwards claim-
ing and honestly believing that they were the first to mount
the works — and opened the way for the rest of the corps.
The sounds and the sights of this splendid charge, as
as they appeared from the rear, are thus described in a
paper read before the Massachusetts Military Historical
Society by Captain Hazard Stevens, who was on General
Getty's staff at the time : " Dr. S. J. Allen, surgeon of the
Fourth Vermont and medical director of General Getty's
division, was in Fort Welch, where he had established his
hospital just before the attack. He related to me not long
afterwards that he was standing on the parapet when the ad-
vance was ordered, and was anxiously peering into the dark-
ness and awaiting the result. He could hear the muffled
tramp and rustle of the moving host, but could discover noth-
ing. He saw the flashes of the first volley ; he heard the
mighty shout of 10,000 throats, and then he saw stretching
across the front for half a mile, a line of flashing fires, crack-
ling, blazing and sparkling in the darkness, more vividly
lighted up by the heavier flashes of artillery, while shells,
with their fiery trails, sped forward through the gloom in
every direction. Though bullets went hissing past, he could
not leave ; but stood intently watching that line of deadly
fire. Suddenly in the middle of it there appeared a tiny
black spot, a narrow gap, which spread and widened, moment
by moment, to the right and left; and then he knew the
works were carried, even before the exultant cheers of our
troops proclaimed the fact."
Forgetting the orders to halt and re-form, the Ver-
monters, everywhere still leading the advance, pushed after
the flying Confederates, the foremost firing upon such as did
588 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
not surrender, and all cheering in uncontrollable excitement.
The brigade thus pressed forward to the crest beyond the
captured works, where by the active exertions of its offi-
cers the men were halted for an effort to restore the forma-
tion, which had become almost wholly lost. The other brig-
ades followed, and Getty's division was partially re-formed
near the Boydton Plank road, extending over towards the Cox
road, and facing southwest, with the Yermont brigade on the
left, Hyde's next and Warner's on the right. Skirmishers of
the Third division filled the interval between the Yermont
brigade and the works, and two brigades of the Third divi-
sion were moving up to the right of Warner, when, before
the division line was fairly formed, it moved forward. The
enemy reversed his batteries in the various redans along the
line, and fired grape and canister ; but his troops could not
be held and fled from the works as the line moved on,
some running down the line of works, the Yermonters and
skirmishers following them with rapid musketry firing ; others
scattering into the woods and open country in the rear of the
works, while large numbers were enveloped in the move-
ment of the division and surrendered. Of the part of the
brigade in this movement. Major Barber says :
" The organization obtained here was very incomplete,
owing to the eagerness of the troops to pursue the enemy,
who were making for the woods in the rear, but with such
organization as it had, the brigade, turning to the left, moved
forward about half a mile and halted at the edge of a dense
wood to re-form. The brigade was here formed in single
line in numerical order from right to left, the Eleventh con-
necting with the Third division, and about half a mile distant
from and inside of the enemy's works. The lines being formed,
the whole command pushed forward vigorously through the
thickets, swamps and pine woods, soon losing all organization
again in the eagerness of the men to surpass each other in
the pursuit of the enemy, who were being pursued so closely
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 589
that they could scarcely fire a shot, and appeared to have
given up all idea of resistance and were only desirous to be
taken prisoners. In this manner the pursuit continued for
about four miles in a direction nearly parallel with the works,
until Bailey's house, near Hatcher's Bun, was reached, where
the brigade was halted for a few minutes and then moved to
the left and formed in column of regiments just inside the
works.
" Words are inadequate to express the conduct of the
troops in this second charge. Every man appeared to con-
sider himself a host, and singly or in squads of three or four
they charged upon whatever obstructions came in their paths.
Bvt. Major E. Wales of the Second Vermont, with two men,
captured a piece of artillery, turned it upon the enemy, and
the shell with which the piece was charged went howling
through the woods after the very men who had prepared the
compliment for us. Major Sperry of the Sixth Yermont, and
Lieut. Bailey of the Eleventh Yermont, assisted by a few
men, captured two pieces and turned them upon the flying
rebels. Being unable to procure primers the pieces were
discharged by firing a musket into the vent of the piece. In
this manner twelve rounds were fired, when a section of artil-
lery coming up the guns were turned over to its commander.
Captain Tilden of the Eleventh Yermont, with about a dozen
men, captured two pieces of artillery, 11 commissioned officers
and 62 enlisted men of the Forty-second Mississippi regiment.
Sergeant Lester G. Hack, Company F., Fifth Yermont, dash-
ed into a squad of rebels, who had gathered around a beauti-
ful stand of colors, and, with a humanity as praiseworthy as
his daring, knocked down the color bearer, seized the colors
as he fell, and rushed on to another portion of the field^
Corporal Charles H. Dolloff, Company K. Eleventh Yermont,
also captured a battle flag, supposed to be that of the Forty-
second Mississippi."
Soon after the halt of the brigade, and of Getty's division,,
590 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the other two divisions came up ; and as nothing more was
to be gained by a further movement to the southwest, at
about nine o'clock A. M., the Sixth corps, after the troops had
been permitted to rest for a few minutes, was faced about
and moved toward Petersburg, in parallel columns. It had
passed the " Eed House," in the rear of the spot where the
Yerrnont brigade broke through the lines at daybreak, when
General Wright found that a strong Confederate force, of
Wilcox's division, was preparing to attempt to retake the cap-
tured works. One of these had been re-occupied by the
enemy, and he was pressing upon the troops — a brigade of
Wheaton's division of the Sixth corps — left to guard the
others, while another body of the enemy, since understood
to have been accompanied by General Lee in person, was
taking position near the junction of the Cox and Boydton
roads. The corps was at once deployed, and, supported by
the Twenty-fourth corps, which had marched through the
captured lines below and come up on its right, advanced again.
General Getty was one of the first to get his division into line,
and perceiving the enemy forming in front of him, and posting
artillery on the Cox road, he ordered his division forward
without waiting for Wheaton, who was to join him on his left.
The enemy, thus threatened, withdrew in haste, one battery,
near the Turnbull house, remaining and keeping up a vigorous
fire of grape and canister, till it was too late to escape, and
the guns were taken by troops of the Vermont brigade.1
Major Barber thus describes the movement and action of
the brigade, in this advance :
"About nine o'clock A. M., the brigade was again put in
1 This is understood to have been the Charlotte, (N. C.) artillery, Cap-
tain A. B. Williams, of Lee's artillery reserve. It is related in some of the
reports that General Lee was one of the last to leave the guns ; and that he
ordered the officer in command of the battery to stay and die at his post.
A wounded officer was found lying near the still smoking pieces when they
were taken.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 591
motion and moved back along the line of works, past the
point at which the lines were penetrated in the morning, and
formed about three miles south of Petersburg, on the left of
a road leading to the city, the spires of which were plainly
visible in the distance. The ground between this formation
and the city consisted of a series of hills and marshy ravines,
and the enemy were distinctly seen making every disposition
of their troops and artillery to contest our advance. The
brigade was formed in single line from right to left as follows,
Eleventh, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Fourth; a skirmish
line was advanced under Captain Safford of the Eleventh,
and the command then moved forward, its right resting on
the road. The enemy poured in a very heavy fire of shot and
shell from a battery on our right, which completely enfiladed
our lines, and a perfect hailstorm of canister from a battery
of four guns planted in the garden of the Turnbull house,
where General Lee had his headquarters, directly in front. *
Brevet Colonel Floyd, commanding the Third Yermont, threw
forward a few men as skirmishers, with orders to advance on
the double quick and shoot the horses of the battery to pre-
vent its being removed. This daring feat was accomplished
with perfect success, the brigade in the meantime wheeling
to the left and rapidly closing in upon the guns. The com-
mander of the battery, finding it impossible to escape with
his guns, raised a white flag, when Colonel Floyd ordered the
firing to cease and pressed forward to receive his surrender.
At the same time Captain K. Templeton of the Eleventh
Vermont with a small squad of men came up gallantly from
the right flank on the double quick to contest with Colonel
Floyd the capture of the guns. Just at this moment the
skirmish line of the First brigade of this division coming up
on the left, and not observing the white flag, opened fire on
1 This was a comfortable mansion called ' ' Edge Hill" by its owner,
Mr. Turnbull. It was burned that afternoon, soon after General Lee and
his staff left it.
592 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
the battery, when the men turned and fled. The guns were
immediately taken possession of and a guard from the brigade
established over them.1
" This was the last stand made by the enemy outside of
the line of defences immediately surrounding Petersburg.
The command moved forward to the bank of Heroic Creek2
(about a mile outside of the suburbs of the city) under an
enfilading fire from the batteries on either hand and a des-
ultory fire of sharpshooters posted in the inner defences. A
few of the sharpshooters of the Fourth Vermont, who were
on the extreme left of the brigade, crossed the creek on a
fallen tree, crept up the precipitous bank on the opposite
side, and soon silenced the battery on the left.
" The men being now worn out by want of sleep, having
eaten nothing since the night previous, and completely ex-
hausted by the labors of this long day, were withdrawn to a
ravine to the right of the road ; and the brigade re-formed and
moved again to the left of the Nottingham house, where it
threw up intrenchments and went into camp for the night."
It is impossible in regard to transactions of such a char-
acter as these, carried on with great rapidity over an extended
field, and often with a great intermingling of commands, to
describe in full detail the movements and exploits of the
different regiments. The men 'could not be restrained by
orders. They were continually pushing out from the lines to
make captures or pursue scattered bodies of the enemy.
Captain Stevens relates that in collecting the troops of the
division, during the first halt after breaking through the
works, he found about fifty men of the Fourth Vermont, with
its colors, near the South Side Eailroad, about two miles be-
yond the captured works, engaged, in great glee, in demolish-
1 This guard was placed by Colonel Floyd and Major Barber.
This is the stream called Indian-town Creek upon the government
and other maps.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 593
ing and burning a ret el wagon train. Others went still
farther and tore up a portion of the track of the South Side
road. Others went in other directions and in the excitement
of the day and eagerness of pursuit, they left large numbers
of prisoners, some guns, and quantities of arms and military
stores, surrendered to them, to be gathered up and finally
reported as captured by other troops. The captures of the
brigade, as officially reported, included "two battle flags,
nineteen pieces of artillery, horses, mules, harnesses and
equipments, great quantities of quartermasters' and medical
stores, and several hundred prisoners." !
Prominent among the incidents of the day is the gal-
lant action of Captain Charles G. Gould of the Fifth Ver-
mont, already mentioned. The historian deems himself for-
tunate in being able to present, for the first time, to the public,
Captain Gould's account of this incident. Prefacing this with
a brief statement of the position of his regiment, in the
charge upon the enemy's works, and an allusion to the order
to " bear to the left," Captain Gould says :
"My company, being the ninth in the line, was next to
the left company in the regimental formation. The result of
following the order heard was, that, without being aware of
it, those of us who moved out of the ravine separated from
the rest of the command. Upon discovering our position a
call was made for the officers present, which was responded
to by my first lieutenant, Robert Pratt. We found but a
handful of men with us, among whom were First Sergeants
Edward Brownlee of my company — who was killed a few
minutes later — and James Grace of Company B. Our posi-
tion was extremely perilous. We were apparently in front of
the troops supporting the brigade on its left, who would soon
1 Thirty-one guns, 9 battle-flags and 2,100 prisoners are claimed to have
been captured during the day by Getty's division. Captain R. H. Start,
Third Vermont battery, who was placed in charge of ordnance captured
by the Sixth corps, turned in 20 rebel guns to the ordnance depot.
38
594 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR
bo upon us and would be unable to distinguish friend from
foe in the darkness ; were directly in front of and had almost
reached the enemy's works, and were receiving a murderous
fire. What was to be done must be done quickly. The
experienced veterans of the old brigade, however, scarcely
needed officers or orders in any emergency. Some one sug-
gested, " Capture that battery." The suggestion was all that
was required by them, and was followed by a dash for the
work in our front, and in a moment we were making our way
through the abatis. By chance I gained the abatis at a weak
point, and had no difficulty in passing through it, being fol-
lowed by Sergeant Brownlee, I think, and possibly by others.
Most of the men, however, struck a narrow opening that had
been left in the abatis, through which a path led to the
enemy's front, and being compelled to file through it were
necessarily somewhat delayed in reaching the work behind
the abatis. Unaware of this, I had jumped into the ditch
and climbed the parapet, which was scarcely reached when
Sergeant Jackson Sargent, Company D., of the Fifth, ap-
peared upon the works with one stand of our colors — the
State colors I think. My appearance upon the parapet was
met with a leveled musket, which fortunately missed fire. I
immediately jumped into the work, and my part in the en-
gagement was soon over. I was scarcely inside before a
bayonet was thrust through my face and a sword-thrust re-
turned for it that fully repaid the wound given me, as I was
subsequently informed that it killed my assailant. At almost
the same breath an officer — or some one armed with a sword —
gave me a severe cut in the head. The remainder of my brief
stay in the work was a confused scramble, from which, had
my assailants been fewer in number, I should scarcely have
escaped. As it was, firing on their part would have been
dangerous for their own men ; consequently their efforts were
apparently restricted to the use of bayonets and clubbed
muskets. During the struggle I was once seized and my
THE FIKST BKIGADE. 595
overcoat partially pulled off, and probably at this time an-
other bayonet wound was given me in the back, as the bayo-
net passed through my inner coat between the shoulders,
while my overcoat remained intact. This was the most
severe wound of the three, the bayonet entering the spine
and penetrating it nearly to the spinal cord. I have no dis-
tinct recollection of what followed, until I found myself at
the parapet, trying to climb out of the work, but unable to
do so. At this time Private Henry H. Recor, Company A.}
Fifth Vermont, appeared upon the parapet at that point.
The brave fellow recognized the situation, and notwithstand-
ing the danger incurred in doing so, pulled me upon the
parapet, receiving a gunshot wound himself while saving me.
" This terminated my part in the assault upon the lines
at Petersburg. I must have been assisted out of the ditch
without being recognized, as those with me were not aware
of my escape, and I made my way to the rear as far as my re-
maining strength would carry me. Some of this journey is
a blank to me. I remember that I did not understand what
had become of the rest of my comrades who attacked the
battery with me, and that I thought they had been captured
and the colors with them. On my way back I met an ad-
vancing line of our own troops, told them what had happened,
and begged them to hasten and recapture the supposed
prisoners and flag, telling them that it was the first flag the
State had ever lost. I also remember meeting Major H. C.
Baxter of the brigade staff, and asking him to send some one
to the rear with me.
" My statement, thus far, has been necessarily in regard
to myself. It is but justice to an officer who was as brave as
modest, that I should complete the history of that early morn-
ing engagement at the earthwork mentioned, as it was
subsequently narrated to me by participants in the affair. It
was reported to Lieutenant Pratt that I had been killed
inside the works. Forming the men in the ditch, he led
596 VEBMONT IN THE CIVIL WAF.
them into the work and after a short but desperate fight
captured the guns and a number of prisoners, and held the
work until other troops arrived; but in the excitement of
battle and his anxiety to rejoin his command, left guns and
prisoners to the first comers, and omitting to place guards
upon or take receipts for his captures, did not receive the
credit to which he was entitled. I also wish to express my
belief upon one other point. As stated in Major Barber's
report, the honor of first placing the colors upon the works
was claimed by three different regiments. It was officially
reported and so far as I am aware has never been questioned,
that I was the first one to enter the enemy's works. Although
it can justly be attributed to chance more than any other
cause, I have always believed the report to be true, and from
all the circumstances connected with the engagement feel
warranted in my belief. I know absolutely and positively
that before leaping into the works Sergeant Jackson Sargent
joined me on the parapet with one of the stands of colors
belonging to the Fifth Vermont regiment, and I therefore
feel justified in asserting that the colors of the Fifth Vermont
were first on the works. I do not make this assertion with
any desire to detract from the honor due any regiment of the
brigade, or through partiality to the Fifth regiment. One of
the other regiments claiming the same honor was the regi-
ment in which I first enlisted,1 and in which most of my three-
years of service was passed — a regiment that was acknow-
ledged to be the peer of the regiments originally composing
the Old Vermont brigade."
It can be said of Captain Gould, as he says of his brother
officer, with a little change of phrase, that he is as modest as
he was brave. He is not the man to claim anything not justly
his due, and his assertion that the colors of the Fifth Ver-
mont were the first planted on the works — a statement which
1 The Eleyenth Vermont.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 597
detracts nothing from the credit due to men of other organi-
zations who had farther to go before reaching the intrench-
ments — is likely to stand as the final truth upon the subject.
The portion of Major Barber's report, alluded to by
Captain Gould above, is as follows : " The commanders of the
Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh regiments each claim that the
colors of his command was the first planted on the works ;
but owing to the darkness prevailing at the time the lines
were reached, and the distance between the points at which
their colors were placed on the works, it is impossible to
decide the delicate question." Major Barber, however, sub-
sequently decided it to his own satisfaction, and under date
of June 8th, 1882, writes : " Captain C. G. Gould, Fifth
Vermont, was, I am sure, the first man who entered the enemy's
lines that morning." This is further confirmed by General
L. A. Grant, who says : " Captain Charles G. Gould, formerly
from the Eleventh regiment, was the first man over the rebel
works, and as he went over he received a bayonet wound,
entering his mouth and passing outside of his teeth, under
his lip, and coming out near his neck."
The somewhat remarkable circumstance, mentioned in
the official reports, that Lieut. Colonel Mundee, of General
Getty's staff, acted for a time, this day, as commander of the
Vermont brigade,1 requires explanation. Lieut. Colonel Mun-
dee was not placed in command of the Vermont brigade by
General Getty or any superior officer. The brigade was com-
manded at the time by its senior field officer, a brave and
experienced officer, who had distinguished himself in the
previous operations,2 and it would have been a very singular
1 The brigade is even alluded to as " Mundee's Vermont brigade" in
some of the reports.
8 " Lieut. Colonel Tracy of the Second Vermont led the assault on the
enemy's works, with a gallantry that was worthy of the troops under his
command. Too much praise cannot be awarded to this gallant officer for
598 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
performance if the division commander had superseded him,
while engaged in the active performance of his duties, by a
member of his staff. The facts are that Colonel Mundee
was sent by General Getty to guide the brigade ; and that
being at the time under great mental and physical excite-
ment, Mundee assumed command, informing Colonel Tracy
that he was directed to do so by General Getty. As his
statement was positive, and it was no time for a contro-
versy over a question of authority, Colonel Tracy relinquished
the command to Mundee for a time, till, later in the day,
he discovered that the self-appointed brigadier, overcome
not by the rebels but by his private enemy, whiskey, had laid
down the command as suddenly as he assumed it. For the
statement that he never was placed in command of the
brigade, General Getty will be considered sufficient authority.
In reply to an inquiry from the author of this history, Gen-
eral Getty says : " Colonel Mundee was not placed in com-
mand of the brigade, nor assigned by me to the command on
that occasion ; but was directed to head the brigade, then
advancing, under fire, in the direction of Petersburg. Colonel
Mundee was there in the capacity of staff officer only, to
direct the brigade under my personal orders and instructions,
as commanding general of the Second division of the Sixth
corps, of which the Vermont brigade formed part. At no
time during the advance was he out of my sight or hearing."
Colonel Tracy commanded the brigade during the latter part
of the day. At nightfall, or soon after, General Grant, having
recovered in a measure from the effects of his injury, resumed
command of the brigade.
The brilliancy and importance of the service rendered by
the Vermont brigade on the 2d of April, 1865, was such, that it
is not surprising that there have been other claimants for the
honor which justly belongs to them. This, it is to be remem-
the manner in which he handled the command in that most trying of all
movements — the first shock of a desperate battle." — Major Barber's report.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 599
bered, was the last day of severe fighting during the war.
The piercing of Lee's lines by the Sixth corps was the blow
which decided the immediate flight of his army. * It has-
been called " the blow under which the confederacy, already
tottering to its fall, crumbled." To have had a leading and-
decisive part in it, was a glory which any troops might
envy. Of course no one claims that the Sixth corps did
all the fighting. The Ninth corps, Gen. Parke, attacked
the rebel works on the right, in the early morning. On the
left, several hours later, Gen. Humphreys, with the Second
corps, successfully carried the intrenchments at two points .
on Hatcher's run. Gen. Miles, of the Second corps, overtook,
attacked and routed four brigades of Hill's corps near the
South Side railroad. The cavalry were engaged still farther
to the left. Gen. Gibbon stormed Fort Gregg, in the enemy's
second line of works. But it is to be noted that Gen. Parke,
after carrying the outer line of entrenchments, was repulsed
from the second line with serious loss, and that he made no
headway thereafter during the day. The other successes
mentioned were sequels of the success of the Sixth corps
and would not have been attempted if the latter had failed.
The achievement of the Sixth corps is distinctly claimed
as the grand decisive success of the day, by Gen. Wright, 2
and the official reports of General Meade and Lieut. General
1 ' ' When the Confederate intrenchments were carried by the Sixth
corps, on the morning of the 2d, General Lee at once notified Mr. Jeffer-
son Davis that he would be compelled to abandon his lines during the fol-
lowing night." — General A. A. Humphreys.
8 "To the Sixth corps had fallen the opportunity of striking the decisive
blows not only at Petersburg on the 2d of April, but at the Sailor's Creek on
the 6th, and most gallantly did it vindicate the confidence reposed in it by
its own officers and by the commander of the Army of the Potomac. The
corps had fought well ; but never better than in the assault at Petersburg.'*
—General Wright.
600 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Grant, * and the accounts given by General Humphreys
and other historians fully sustain the claim. General Meade,
commanding the Army of the Potomac, in a speech to the
Sixth corps, on the 17th of April, 1865, on the occasion of
delivering to him the Confederate flags captured by the corps
at Petersburg, said : " I do not wish to make any invidious
" distinctions between your own and the other corps of this
" army, but candor compels me to say that in my opinion
" the decisive movement of this campaign, which resulted in the
" capture of the Army of Northern Virginia, was the gallant
" and successful charge of the Sixth corps on the morning of
<' the 2d of April. It was with much pleasure I received a
" telegraphic dispatch from your brave commander on the
" previous evening, telling me his confidence in your gallantry
" and courage was so great that he felt confident of his ability
" to break through the enemy's lines. And it was with still
" greater satisfaction that a few hours afterwards I had the
" pleasure of transmitting a dispatch to the General-in-Chief,
" telling him that the reliance of your commander had been
" fully borne out. To you, brave men, I return the thanks of
'' the country and of the army."
It is needless to quote further testimony. But Getty's
«li vi&ion led the assault of the Sixth corps, and the Vermont
brigade as undeniably led the assault of Getty's division. As
this honor has been claimed by other troops, it is well to note
the language of General Getty's report. He says : " The
" command was massed in columns of regiments,
" each brigade forming a column, immediately in rear of
" the intrenched picket line captured from the enemy on
" the 25th of March and since held by our pickets. From
"this point, directly in front of Fort Welch, a ravine led
" straight up to the enemy's works, a distance of six hun-
1 "General Wright penetrated the lines with his whole corps, sweeping
everything before him and to his left towards Hatcher's Run, capturing
many guns, and several thousand prisoners." — General U. 8. Grant.
LINES OF PETERSBURG
April End. 1865.
i \positicws of Vermont Brigade.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 601
" dred yards. The ground, gently ascending, was partly
" open, and partly obstructed by stumps and branches of
"'trees. Grant's Vermont brigade (the Second) rested its
" left on this ravine and was made the directing column.
" Hyde's brigade (the Third) was placed in the centre and
" Warner's (the First) on the right. The First division was
"" e?i echelon in support on the right of my division, and the
" Third in similar order on the left."
" It is impossible to determine to whom is due the honor of
41 first entering the works, or what regiment first planted its
" flag upon them ; but that this honor is due to the troops
" and colors of the Second division there can be no doubt.
" The position of the division in front of the corps, having
" the shortest line to the enemy's works, and carrying those
4< works in the first charge without repulse, renders it physi-
*' cally impossible that it should be otherwise."
To the copy of his report from which these words are
quoted General Getty has appended, for the purposes of this
history, the following certificate :
" I hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct extract from my
report of the operations of the Second division, Sixth corps, in front of
Petersburg on the 2d of April, 1865 ; and, further, that my attention was
called to the weakness of the enemy's line of works, so gallantly carried by
the division on the 2d of April, 1865, and to the character of the ground in
front of said line, by Bvt. Major-General L. A. Grant, U. S. Vols., then in
command of the Second (Vermont) brigade of the division, a day or two
after the affair of March 25th, 1865. General Grant reported to me, at that
time, that he had carefully reconnoitred the line of works referred to, and
the ground in the vicinity, trad was of opinion that the works could be car-
ried by a vigorous assault.
GEO. W. GETTY, Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, U. S. A.
Late in command of Second division, Sixth corps
WHEATON, Md., February 24th, 1885.
General Getty did not care to sit in judgment
the rival claims of gallant organizations of his command ;
but it will be seen that the argument by which he demon-
strates that his division must from the nature of the case
have been the first to pierce the enemy's works, supports
602 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
with equal force the claim of the Vermont brigade. In sup-
port of that, too, it can be said : its position in front of the
division, having the shortest line to the enemy's works and
carrying these works at the first charge without repulse,
renders it physically impossible that any other troops could
have preceded it in mounting the opposing parapets. Noth-
ing is assumed, without supporting authority, in stating the
premises of this argument. The point of attack was first
pointed out by the commander of the Vermont brigade. His
brigade moved first to the ground selected by him for the
formation of the attacking column. The other brigades took
position after his, and farther from the point where the
enemy's lines were pierced. The appearance of a small gap
in the lines, as observed by Surgeon Allen, opening sud-
denly and widening just before the cheers of the men
announced their success, shows that the works were pene-
trated at one spot before they were carried at other points.
The Vermont brigade started first; and it was not out-
stripped in the charge. General L. A. Grant's statement
on these points will probably be accepted as competent
and truthful. He says : " There were troops that formed on
my right and left and rear, but not in line with us. The
Vermont brigade was the leading brigade. The others were
not to advance till we did. I was not directed where to form
my brigade. I was to move out and take the position of my
own selection, and the other commands were to move out
after me and form on me. I had selected my exact posi-
tion the day before, when it was light, and took it as near as.
I could in the darkness. It was selected with the view of
getting at the nearest and most available position to reach
the opening of the enemy's works in the ravine. I let my
left rest on the ravine instead of taking position in the ravine
because the ground at the right of the ravine was better to
pass over — the ravine was full of stumps — and because the
opening in the enemy's abatis was at our right of the ravine.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 603
The brigade struck the point intended, and it was first in the
enemy's works."
This clear and positive statement matches other well
authenticated facts ; and though the honor of first piercing
the lines of Petersburg has been claimed by many others, in-
cluding troops which passed, hours after, with arms at right
shoulder shift, through the opening made by the Yermonters,
and gathered up many spoils of their fight, it belongs to and is.
going to stay with the Yermont brigade.
It has been asserted by Confederate historians that Lee's
lines were so thinly manned that they were carried without
serious resistance. The troops of the Sixth corps were not,
however, of that opinion. The corps lost 1,100 men killed
and wounded in its charge. And as the Sixth corps alone
took 3,000 prisoners before ten o'clock A. M., it is plain that
the works they captured were not stripped of men. " The
whole captures," telegraphed Grant to President Lincoln at
four o'clock P. M. that day, " since the army started out gun-
ning, will not amount to less than 12,000 men and proba-
bly 50 pieces of artillery."1
Lee's losses in killed and wounded that day were not res
ported ; but they were very heavy ; and among them was
that of one of his ablest lieutenants, General A. P. Hill,
who was killed in the morning by one of the skirmishers of
the Sixth corps, near the Boydton Plank road, back of the
spot where Getty broke through his lines, while he was riding
from General Lee's headquarters, accompanied only by a
single orderly, in search of his scattered command .
At nightfall all of the enemy west of the point where the
Sixth corps broke in had been captured or driven beyond the
Appomattox and all to the East forced into Petersburg, from
which city Lee could now only escape by the country roads
1 To which Mr. Lincoln replied: "Allow me to tender to you, and
all with you, the nation's grateful thanks for the additional and magnificent
success."
604 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
north of the river. His retreat was already in full prepara-
tion and progress, the final order for it having been given at
3 o'clock P. M. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet fled from
Richmond, by a special train, to Danville, that afternoon.
The headquarters of the Vermont brigade were estab-
lished for the night at Edge Hill, where Lee's headquarters
had been that morning; and details from its regiments
picketed the extreme left and extreme front of the Union
lines. It was a body of hungry, weary and exulting men, that
bivouacked that night near the powder mill, between the
river road and the Appomattox, inside of all but the inner-
most defences of Petersburg. They had carried three miles
of what have been called "the strongest lines known in mod-
ern war." 1 They had been under arms for eighteen hours —
hours of intense effort and excitement. They were too weary
to do more, nor was more needed ; for it was probably bet-
ter that Lee's army should be captured in its flight, than to
be taken in his works with the additional loss of life that
would have followed further assault upon his fortifications.
Other Vermont troops, of the Tenth and Seventeenth
regiments and Third Battery, had also honorable parts in
the action of the Sixth and Ninth corps on that glorious
day; which will be related on other pages of this history.
The loss of the Brigade on the 2d of April, 1865, was
186 killed and wounded ; as follows :
Killed.
Wounded.
Total. Died of Wounds.
Second Vermont 7
33
40
1
Third «
4
19
23
2
Fourth '
1
11
12
1
Fifth
6
34
40
2
Sixth <
2
19
21
1
Eleventh « 5
45
50
1
25 161 186 8
Seven men of the Fifth Vermont, taken prisoners in the
1 General Badeau.
THE FIKST BRIGADE. 605
first onset, were reported missing ; but were all recaptured.
Among the killed were Captain Morey of the Second, killed
by a canister shot from the rebel battery at the Turnbull
House, and Lieutenant French of the Eleventh, shot in the
first charge on the works. Among the wounded were
Captain Ballou of the Second; Lieutenant Hawkins of
the Third ; Lieutenants Humphrey and Tilson of the Fourth ;
Captain Raymond and Lieutenant Gleason of the Fifth ; and
Lieutenants Thomas, Dickinson and Macomber of the
Eleventh.
The four years' drama of the civil war was now fast hur-
rying to its close. The scenes accompanying the evacuation
of Richmond that night, and its occupation by the troops of
the Union next morning, need not be described here ; but it
may be noted that a skirmish line of one hundred and twenty
Vermonters, of the Ninth Vermont regiment, preceding the
advance of General Weitzel's column, were the first Federal
infantry to enter the blazing streets of the Confederate capi-
tal— and that a Vermonter, Bvt Brig. General Edward H.
Ripley, was placed in command of the body of Federal
troops, to which was committed the duty of establishing and
preserving order in the abandoned and well nigh destroyed
seat of the Confederate government.
The inner lines of Petersburg were found empty of de-
fenders, when the Union skirmishers advanced at daybreak
of April 3d. During that day and the next, Lee was con-
centrating his army — still numbering between "thirty and
forty thousand men, though rapidly dwindling by the depart-
ure of despairing confederates who started for their homes
without waiting for formal discharges — at Amelia Court
House, thirty miles West of Petersburg.1 His plan was to
1 The colored population of the region fully understood the situation
and were as jubilant as the white inhabitants were depressed. " Where
are the rebels ?" asked General Sheridan, of a colored patriarch, leaning on
a fence, and doing uncouth homage with a tattered hat, as the head of the
606 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
make his way to Danville, Va., and Grant and Meade and
Sheridan were doing their utmost to intercept him.
The Vermont Brigade started early on the morning of
the 3d of April, with the Sixth corps, following closely the
Fifth corps, with which and the cavalry Sheridan was push-
ing with all possible speed to the West, to head off the Con-
federate army along the line of the Danville railroad. The
corps marched by the Namozine or river road, south of the
Appomattox, the second division in advance. The mud wras
deep, and there were delays in waiting for other troops to get
out of the way, and the marching was hard when the columns
were in motion ; but the thought that they were pursuing a
beaten enemy and were winding up the war, animated every
soldier, and there was no straggling.
The division made fourteen miles that day, and bivou-
acked at night on Whipponock Creek. Next day it marched
twelve miles, nearly to Deep Creek. Here General Wright
found himself without rations, and his corps was supplied
from the Fifth corps train. Next day, the 5th, the division
covered sixteen miles, and at six o'clock in the evening, went
into position, with the corps, on the right of the Fifth corps,
at Jetersville Station, facing northeast towards Amelia Court
House, where Lee lay, five miles away.
Next morning at six o'clock, a general advance of the
Second, Fifth and Sixth corps was made toward Amelia
Court House in the hope that Lee would accept battle. The
lines, advancing by the right of regiments, moved to the
north for three miles, when it was found that there was
nothing in front of them to fight. Finding his road to
Danville blocked, Lee had, the night before, moved from
Amelia, hoping to slip by the Union left, and make good
his escape to the mountains. All night long he had been
marching his hungry and weary troops to the west, and when
Union column passed by, on its way to Jetersville. " Siftin' souf, sah.
Siftin' souf," was the reply, accompanied by a smile and wave of the hand.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 60 1
•clay broke his army was strung out for fifteen miles or more
along the road through Deatonsville and past Sailor's Creek.
General Meade at once faced his command about and followed
the enemy by the parallel roads. Moving back through theii
camp of the night before, the Sixth corps crossed the Dan-
ville railroad at Jetersville Station and pushed on with al)
possible haste toward Sailor's Creek, where Ewell and
Anderson, with 10,000 men who formed, the r^ar guard of
Lee's army, had been brought to a stand by the. cavalry under
Custer. That dashing soldier had struck the Confederate
column, taken three batteries, destroyed a train of 400 wagons,
and occupying the road in front, had cut E^ell and Anderson
off from the main body. Ewell was preparing to attack the
cavalry division which thus blocked his way, when the First
and Third divisions of the Sixth corps arrived on the ground,
and a combined assault of the Union cavalry and infantry, on
flank and rear, resulted before nightfall in the surrender of
Ewell's corps entire, including Generals Ewell, Kershaw and
Custis Lee, and the capture of about half of Anderson's corps,
including the larger part of Picketts's division. Getty's
division, being that day in the rear of the other two divisions,
did not actively participate in the fight. It was hurried for-
ward at double quick, to the support of the other divisions,
and formed in line on the ground ; but the other troops had
made short work with their dispirited opponents. The Yer-
monters of the Old brigade thus lost the opportunity to take
active part in the capture of the divisions of Anderson, Ker-
shaw and Pickett, against which the Yermont troops had
been pitted on so many hard-fought fields.
The corps crossed Sailor's Creek that evening, in pursuit
of Lee, Getty's division leading the column, and advanced
for two miles, till at dusk the Second Yermont regiment
which was deployed in front as skirmishers, came upon
Mahone's division, stationed by General Longstreet to cover
the retreat of the rest. The Second skirmished through
608 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
a piece of woods to the bank of the Western Fork of Sailor's
Creek. The enemy opened fire sharply from the opposite
bank, and it was returned by the skirmishers of the Second
with such effect as to silence the opposing fire, and the
Second picketed its side of the stream till morning. There
were no casualties among the Yermonters. The enemy had
several wounded, among them being, it was said, an offi-
cer of General Lee's staff. This skirmish of April 6th, was
the last collision of the Sixth corps with the enemy ; and the
last volley fired by any portion of the corps, appears to have
been fired by the men of the Second Vermont.
Next morning the division pushed on, reached the Ap-
pomattox at Farmville, after a march of fourteen miles, and
crossing the river on a ponton bridge, Lee having burned the
bridges, bivouacked on the north shore. General U. S. Grant
had his headquarters at the Farmville hotel, and from that
shabby country inn sent to General Lee that evening, the
first letter of the final correspondence between the command-
ing generals of the two armies, inviting Lee to surrender in
order to save further effusion of blood. The little town was
filled with cavalry, infantry and artillery, rebel prisoners,
wagon trains, and ambulances filled with wounded. Camp-
fires burned in the streets and in the surrounding camps, and
the frightened inhabitants peered from their windows ta
watch the column of the Sixth corps, moving through, and on
across the river, during almost all the night. Next day the
Vermont brigade was detached from the corps and sent back
to Farmville, to guard the supply trains, which were soon to
arrive with two days' rations for the army. It remained
there that day and the next, during which Sheridan had again
placed himself across Lee's only line of retreat, and Hum-
phreys, Wright and Ord were completing the circle around
what was left of the doomed Aj-my of Northern Virginia.
During the next afternoon, April 9th, General Lee and
28,355 officers and men of his army gave their paroles not to
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 609
take up arms against the government of the United States,
and that night the men of the two armies which had been in
such close hostile contact for eleven months along the lines
of Petersburg, mingled in friendly intercourse around their
camp-fires, the victors sharing their rations with the van-
quished.
The men of the Vermont brigade, being engaged in the
discharge of their duty at another point, were not present at
the actual surrender. Under orders to rejoin the Sixth corps,
the brigade left Farmville on the morning of the 10th, and
had marched half way to Appomattox Court House, when
General L. A. Grant received word that Lee had surrendered,
and that the corps was moving back, and the brigade halted
and bivouacked for the night. Next day it moved back to
Burksville Junction, where the corps was concentrated. It
remained there for twelve days, while the negotiations be-
tween General Sherman and General Johnston were in pro-
gress, for the surrender of the army of the latter, then near
Kaleigh, N. C. The seat of what remained of the Confederate
Government was at that time on a railroad side-track at
Greensboro, N. C., in a freight car, which was also the resi-
dence of Jefferson Davis for the time. On the 15th the
news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received,
with indescribable grief and indignation. The men of the
Yermont Brigade, especially, knew that they had attracted
his interest and stood second to no brigade in the army in
his confidence, and they mourned for him with a deep
personal sorrow.
The war was now considered ended, and the troops were
everywhere awaiting formal proclamation of the fact, re-
joicing meantime that their days of fighting and hard march-
ing were over. For most of the soldiers of the Union that
was the case, but not for the Sixth corps.
CIO VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
THE LAST MARCH TO THE SOUTH.
Suddenly, on the 23d of April, came orders to break
camp and move, not to the North but to the South. The
explanation of this was that the negotiations between Sherman
and Johnston had taken a far wider scope than those between
Grant and Lee, and the terms arranged contained political
provisions which the administration did not approve. Gen-
eral U. S. Grant was accordingly sent to Raleigh, with orders
to terminate the existing armistice, and to move at once against
Johnston. He started on the 22d, first ordering Sheridan to
take his cavalry and a corps of infantry, and push for Greens-
boro with all haste, to cut off the escape of Johnston to the
west. Sheridan took the Sixth corps, of course, and on the
23d it started. It was something of a damper for the men to
find that they were headed for Danville, Ya., instead of Wash-
ington ; but they obeyed orders with their accustomed alacrity.
In the next four days they did some of the hardest marching
of their experience, the corps making about twenty-five miles
each day. "In four days and four hours," said General Wright
in a congratulatory order to the corps, "not less than one
hundred miles have been traveled — a march almost unprece-
dented in this or any other war, even under the most favora-
ble auspices." In this march, it is needless to say, the
Yermonters sustained their old reputation as marchers.
The country passed through on the route is one of the
finest portions of Yirginia, and it showed little of the devasta-
tion of war. Elegant residences here and there betokened
the former wealth of their owners, and on many farms the
farmers were at work. All had accepted the downfall of the
Confederacy, and the negroes flocked around the ranks,
eager to do anything for their deliverers from bondage. At
two p. M. of Thursday, April 27th, the brigade and division
marched through Danville, with colors flying and bands play-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 611
ing, and camped just outside the town. Here they learned the
news of Johnston's surrender, which had taken place, on the
same terms as Lee's, the day before. Some of the printer
boys in the First division had already taken possession of
the printing office of the Danville Register and issued there-
from a little sheet entitled " The Sixth Corps," which did
not omit to mention the fact that the corps had outmarched
Sheridan's cavalry in the race to Danville.
During the month following, the Sixth corps had the duty
of guarding the railroad between Eichmond and Greensboro,
and was broken up into detachments for the purpose. The.
Yermont brigade remained at Danville, during these weeks,
in which the final surrenders of the Confederate forces in
Georgia, Alabama, and States west of the Mississippi, and the
capture of the person of Jefferson Davis, took place. The
weather was pleasant, and light guard duty the only service,
and the days would have passed quickly but for the impatience
of most of the men to return to their homes. But the sur-
render of 175,000 armed men and a thousand cannon, and the
re-establishment of Federal authority throughout the south,
could not be completed in a day ; and weeks lengthened into
months before the army could be disbanded. In May the
Army of the Potomac began moving to "Washington. The
troops of the Sixth corps began to leave Danville on the 16th
of May, by railroad. The Yermont brigade took cars on the
18th, and arrived next day at Manchester, just across the
river from Richmond. Here the corps remained for four days,
which were improved by the men in roaming through the
streets of the half ruined city, and exploring Libby prison
and Castle Thunder, which some of them had visited before
under less cheerful auspices. Failing to obtain transporta-
tion for his corps to Washington, General Wright decided
to march it thither. There was some growling among the
men, that they should not be as well treated as the rebels
612 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
of Lee's army, who had been transported by the govern-
ment to the points nearest to their homes ; but they knew
the road, and were good for the trip, and it was going home.
The corps started from Richmond on the 24th of May, on its
last march. This lasted ten days and was made by easy stages,
averaging about a dozen miles a day. The weather was
rainy and mud troublesome ; but details for picket duty were
now things of the past, and the nightly slumbers of the men
were not disturbed by the long roll or any sound of strife.
The march was made by way of Hanover Court House,
Fredericksburg and Acquia Creek, and ended on the 2d of
June at the spot assigned for the last camp of the Sixth corps,
between Munson's Hill and Ball's Cross Roads, not far from
Camp Griffin, the first camp of the brigade.
Here for a month or more longer the troops awaited their
final muster out. Early in June, for the sake of bringing
together all the Vermont regiments in the vicinity of Wash-
ington, the Eighth Vermont (which had been ordered to
Savannah, but was recalled at the request of Governor Smith
after it had embarked on the steamer which was to take it
thither), the Tenth Vermont and the First Vermont cavalry
were attached to the brigade. On the 7th of June, the Ver-
mont troops were reviewed at Bailey's Cross Eoads, by
Governor Smith of Vermont. Considerable pains had been
taken by the men and their commanders to prepare for this,
and it was a notable review. The troops, numbering be-
tween 4,000 and 5,000, were organized for the occasion into
a division of two brigades, commanded respectively by
Bvt. Brig. General George P. Foster, and Colonel John B.
Mead of the Eighth, with Bvt. Maj. General L. A. Grant
commanding the division. The brigade band of the Old
brigade and the regimental band of the Eighth regiment
furnished the music. Governor Smith was accompanied
by Adjutant General P. T. Washburn, Quartermaster Gen-
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 613
eral P. P. Pitkin and Surgeon General S. "W. Thayer of
his staff, by Generals William Wells and J. M. Warner with
their staffs, and by a number of prominent Vermonters and
civil officials in Washington, many of whom were accom-
panied by ladies. General Washburn said of this review:
"The occasion was one of deep interest — not merely as a
fine military display of admirably drilled troops, execut-
ing every movement with the utmost precision, but as a
review, by the Governor of the State, of the scarred, sun-
burned and war-worn veterans whom the State had sent into
the field, intrusted with the maintenance of her honor, who
had met the enemy in many a fierce and sanguinary conflict,
and some of them in every battle in which the Army of the
Potomac had participated, from the first Bull Run to the
final surrender of Lee on the banks of the Appomattox
There were officers and men there present, whose names have
been household words in Yermont for the last four years,
and will stand upon the roll of honor of the State, as long as
the State shall have a history. Numbering scarce 6,000
men, they were all that remained in active service of nearly
20,000, who had been sent from the State in the regiments
reviewed."
At the close of the review, the Governor and attending
guests were entertained by General Grant, who had spread a
handsome collation for his guests in a pavilion of green
boughs at his headquarters on Munson's Hill.
The Sixth corps, having been retained on duty in Vir-
ginia after most of the troops of the Armies of the Potomac
and Tennessee had been ordered to Washington, could not
participate in the grand review of those armies, which took
place on the 23d and 24th of May. It was, however, in due
time, accorded the honor of a special review by the President
of the United States. This took place in Washington on the
8th of June. In this the seven infantry regiments then com-
614 VEKMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
prised in the brigade participated. The day was one of the
hottest ever known at the Capital, and the parade and march
back to camp made an experience more trying than the ordeal
of battle. Many men staggered fainting past the reviewer's
stand, and hundreds fell from exhaustion and sunstrokes ;
but the Vermonters stood it well though they had had a long
parade of their own the day before, and they bore themselves
proudly, their tattered colors wreathed with green, while
each officer and man wore in his cap the Green Mountain
boy's badge, the evergreen sprig. And by the accord of
thousands of spectators from other States, they bore off the
highest honors of the day. The New York Tribune's report
of the review said : "The Vermont brigade, Maj. General L.
A. Grant, were greatly admired for their fine appearance.
Maj. General Casey, whose praise is worth having, says their
marching was of a superior order, indicating excellent disci-
pline, and that that was the only brigade that saluted the
President correctly." The correspondent of the Boston
Journal said : " The Vermont brigade made the best display,
and received the highest compliments." Other journals gave
like prominence and praise to the brigade.
The Army of the Potomac, of which it has been said that
" for four long years it either stood as a great wall between
Washington and Eichmond, or kept passing like a weaver's
shuttle between the two capitals ; the army which for four
long years was the sword and shield of the Great Kepublic,
and which held in its grasp not only the destinies of this land
but the fate of liberty and of good government throughout
the world ; an army which fought over more miles of ground
than most armies of the world had ever marched over" * was
now rapidly melting into the common mass of American citi-
zens. When the order for the disbandment of the Vermont
1 General Horace Porter of New York.
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 615
brigade was received, its commander issued the following
farewell address to the brigade :
HEADQUARTERS VERMONT BRIGADE, \
Second division, Sixth corps, June 24, 1865. j
Officers and Soldiers of the Vermont brigade :
Our battles are over, victory is ours, and Peace smiles upon our fair
land. The principles of Republicanism are established. The rights of
man are vindicated, and the power of the Federal Government is settled, it
is hoped, for all time. Your patriotism, your severe toils, your patient en-
durance of hardships, and your gallant heroism have contributed largely to
these glorious results. You are soon to visit the homes you have protected
and the friends who have anxiously watched your career, and our official-
and social relations in the field are to cease. Having been connected with,
the brigade from its organization, and in command for more than two years,,
I cannot leave without a parting word.
Soldiers ! For your good conduct, your noble bearing, your obedience
to orders, and your unsurpassed gallantry in action, I thank you. The
thanks of your State and a grateful nation are yours. Your record is a
proud one. History records no braver deeds. Yet it is a record of blood,
and many a well fought field is stained with the life blood of brave com-
rades. "We mourn their loss, and while we cherish their memories, let us
emulate their virtues.
Having successfully fought for the preservation of our common country,
let us become good citizens, perpetuate its free and liberal institutions, and
strive in all the arts of peace to make it, under the blessing of God, truly
the wonder and admiration of the world.
L. A. GRANT,
Brevet Major General U. S. A.
On the 19th of June 660 men of the five original regi-
ments of the old brigade, whose three years' terms of service
were to expire before October of that year, were mustered
out of service, and left camp at once for home. They preserved
a sort of organization, under command of Adjutant Hiram S.
English of the Sixth. They arrived at Burlington on the
23d, and were received in the City Hall by the Mayor and
welcomed back by Hon. Daniel Roberts, as representatives
of " the fighting brigade of the fighting corps, so pronounced
by those who have studied best the history of the war."
This was the last public appearance of any body of men that
could be called the Vermont brigade. The residues of the
616 VERMONT IN THE CIYIL WAR.
regiments, with the exception of three small battalions, which
remained on duty for two weeks longer, and a battalion of
the Eleventh which was stationed in the forts at Washington
for two months longer, were mustered out of the "United
States service during the last week in June ; and on the 28th
of June, 1865, the brigade was formally declared to be dis-
banded, in the general disbandment of the Sixth corps and of
the Army of the Potomac.
CHAPTEK XX.
Final Statement of the First Brigade — Some Suggestive Statistics — Testi-
mony of its Commanders to the quality of the troops of the Brigade-
End of Volume I.
A few suggestive figures must close 'his record of the
service of the First Vermont Brigade, though there are many
details of it, over which the historian could proudly linger.
The five original regiments of the First Vermont brigade
entered the service of the government with 4,747 officers and
men. To these were added, during the war, under the policy,
early adopted by the State, of keeping the ranks of existing
regiments well recruited in preference to creating new organi-
zations, 4,070 men — giving an aggregate of 8,817 officers and
men. Of this number 578 were killed in action, and 395 died
of wounds received in battle, a total of 973. One hundred
and ten men in every thousand were killed outright or received
wounds in action resulting in death. Those who died of
disease in Union hospitals numbered 774. Those who died
in Confederate prisons were 135 in number. The total num-
ber of wounded was 2,328. The latest tabulations from the
records of the War Department, completed in June, 1885,
show that the proportion of killed in action in the armies of
the Union, was 2.88 ; and of those dying from wounds 1.85.
The percentage of Vermonters killed, in the five original
regiments of the First brigade, was 6.55, and of those dying
of wounds 4.48. Of all the States, Vermont had the highest
percentage of men killed in action, namely 3.65; but it will
be seen that the killed of the Old brigade far exceeded even
this proportion.
618 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The Eleventh regiment was a member of the brigade about
one year. In material and fighting quality it was not inferior
to the older regiments and its losses in action in proportion
to the length of its period of active service with the brigade ,.
even exceeded the remarkable percentage of the five original
regiments. It had 1,315 original members and received
1,005 recruits, making an aggregate of 2,320. It had 69
killed, 418 wounded, 86 of whom died of their wounds ; 213
died from disease in Union hospitals, and 167 of its number
died in rebel prisons. These numbers swell the figures for
the brigade to 6,062 original members ; 5,075 recruits ;
aggregate 11,137; killed 647; died of wounds 481 ; died of
disease 987; died in rebel prisons 302. One third of the
men sent from Yermont to defend the flag, served in the ranks
of the Old brigade, and of their number 2,417, or more than
one in every four, gave their lives to the cause of the Union.
The brigade was engaged, as a whole or in part, in thirty
battles and engagements, deemed of importance enough to
be included on the official lists. If the separate actions, on
successive days, included under the single titles of Fredericks-
burg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor be
included, this number is swelled to thirty-seven. The marches
of the Brigade in Yirginia and Maryland, exceeded two
thousand miles in aggregate length.
The losses of the Yermont brigade in action were not to
any considerable extent chargeable to reckless handling in
battle. Certainly none of its brigade, division or corps com-
manders were rash or regardless of the lives of their troops.
These losses, it is the simple truth to say, were owing to the
character of the troops — to the facts that they were so often
put in where the hardest fighting was to be done, that they
stayed when others fled, and that they did not know when they
were beaten — if they ever were beaten. Not one of the colors
of the brigade, though so often flying in the very front of
battle, was ever permitted to be for a moment in hostile
THE FIRST BRIGADE. 619
hands. " The heroism of our boys," as one who carried a
musket with them has finely said, "had little of pride or
pomp, of crashing music and royal banner and uive I'Em-
pereur ! boisterousness about it. It was, like themselves,
homely and self-contained. They stood up firmly, fought
stubbornly ; when they dropped they had grim humor and
queer wit quite as often on their lips as groans, or cries or
prayers. There was gold and there was dross in them." But
they were in large proportion of the sort of whom this com-
rade adds : " The soldiers who did their devoir most nobly
in the awful solemnities of a great battle were not those who.
brawled and boasted either before or after the conflict ; but
those who with a humane hate of bloodshed, turned it may
be pale faces but stout hearts to the enemy, and fixed their
unyielding feet firmly in the earth as a badger's claws, and
made a badger's bitter fight, simply because it was the hard
but single road to their full duty." 3
To the fighting and staying and marching qualities of
the brigade, as an organization, their superior commanders,
not of their own number or connected with them by any tie
of State pride, often bore testimony. General Howe seldom
alludes to them in his reports without words of especial
praise. General Wright said of them to the author of this
history : "As marchers they were unsurpassed, and as fight-
ers they were as good as the best, if not a little better.'"
General Sheridan said, in the State House in Montpelier, in
1867 : "When I saw these old flags I thought I ought to say
as much as this : — I have never commanded troops in whom
I had more confidence than I had in the Yermont troops,
and I do not know but I can say that I never commanded
troops in whom I had as much confidence as those of this
gallant State." This praise belongs in part to three Vermont
1 Address of Sergeant Lucius Bigelow before the Reunion Society of
Vermont Officers.
620 VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR.
regiments who served under Sheridan outside of the First
brigade, but it belongs also to that brigade. General Sedg-
wick's opinion of the brigade was expressed by his chief of
staff, General McMahon, when he said : " No body of troops
in or out of the old Sixth corps had a better record. No
body of troops in or out of the Army of the Potomac made
their record more gallantly, sustained it more heroically or
wore their honors more modestly. The Vermont brigade
were the model and type of the volunteei soldier."
After all, as has been said of it, the highest compliments
paid the brigade were the orders which placed it in positions
of extreme danger and responsibility. That distinction, as
the preceding pages show, was over and over again conferred
upon it. The facts of its record, even thus imperfectly
related, are its sufficient eulogy. The succeeding chapters
of this work will show that its example was not lost on
other Vermont regiments and another Vermont brigade.
END OF VOL. L
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
This book is due on the last DATE stamped below.
DEC 17 76 **
4
OCT 9*
100m-8,'65(F6282s8)2373
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